Summer Days
by Rusala
Summary: Who knew the simple statement, "Lovely weather we're having." started it all? Who knew their love for books would have left them to make a deep promise to one another to keep? Would they keep it? Would they pull away? Neither of them new. But what happens when they meet up under different circumstances? Modern Day AU Rated M for future language/content. Let me know your thoughts
1. Prologue

If you want, I suggest listening to New Heights - Peaches as the emotional background music lol. Though it might give you some emotional turmoil lol You could cry hahah. It wasn't the song I used to create the story but its a pretty omg song that hits you where you least expect it hahah

I do not own Naruto! If I did, I would have given Sakura more scenes with our favorite, handsome ninja Kakashi lol

* * *

"So this is it…" she exhaled nervously, and put on her best smile.

"I guess so…"

Neither one wanted to accept the fact that this was their contracted end of what they called a relationship. Spending time with one another, talking all day, reading together, and just enjoying the heat of one another's hands.

Gripping his hand a little tighter through the romantic lace, she laughed nervously.

"How ironic that it's a rainy day don't you think?" she smiled sadly as she looked out of the window.

"'Lovely weather we're having today.'" he said reminiscently with a smile as he quoted the very first thing he ever said to her. "Its just like that day."

Feeling the tear trickle down her cheek, she smiled and nodded, scared to say anything else.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked, returning her grip. "We could just keep it long distanced."

Shaking her head and closing her eyes to let the tears trickle down her cheeks, she turned to smile at him affectionately.

"I'm sure. We'll see how it plays out."

"You have my number if you ever want to change your mind." he offered.

"It'll only be for friendly chats if anything else." she reminded. "Anything else is forbidden."

"_All passengers please buckle your seat belts as we are beginning our descent and please return your chairs and tables back into their upright position. We advise that you turn off all electronics and cellular devices as …"_

She knew the process already. She did as was announced on the intercom, never letting go of the warm, large, protective hand that remained interlaced between hers and he did the same; both completely in turn with one another.

Slowly feeling the descent heavily press against her ears, she propped her elbow against the hard plastic of the airplane's window and pressed her lips against the back of her hand. She could clearly see the city way too into view and her stomach began to drop; not in anticipation of seeing the people she knew, not in the sudden drop in atmospheric pressure, but in a sad, scared, realization that this was the last time she would see the man she had grown fond of. If fate was on her side, the promise they made would be kept and they would meet again during the promised summer, at the promised place.

.

Purposely taking their time to exit the plane, they continued down the thin isle with their fingers constantly intertwined all the way through the terminals that lead into the baggage claim.

The rustling, the coughs, the groans of other people, the cries of children from being tired, and the other noises that affiliated with the airport seemed to have been washed away as the two focused solely on one another's presence, still hand in hand as they retrieved their luggage. It was a comfortable silence they enjoyed and felt would be ruined if either of them spoke.

Passing through customs and immigration the two glued their hands together again and he couldn't help but rub soothing circles against her thumb with his.

"Any last requests before we become friends?" he asked, hesitant of even continuing the plan they had set out.

"No cheating and interfering with one another's love life?" she suggested.

"Only unless its reasonable." he chided

"Like?"

"Abusive relationship. Rape. Anything within reasonable scopes."

"Ok, that seems fair." she nodded.

They turned a corner and rode the escalator down into a tunnel where the final process of their long journey would come to an end. Upon reaching the bottom and staring at the long hallway that led to the exit, she stopped him and caught his attention.

"Wait…" she said hesitantly. "I just…thought of a _last_, last request…" she said quickly.

Seeing the exit straight ahead, he and laughed at her nervousness and worrisome expression.

"Getting cold feet? Wanna reconsider the-"

"Not that… Kiss me."

"Really? Where is this coming from?" he laughed.

"Kiss me." she said seriously, with excited eyes and a face so completely red that a lobster would be jealous.

"Really? I thought you might have wanted our 'love story's' first kiss to be at the end or somewhere in the middle?" he joked.

"I'd like to know what your lips feel like and what your face looks like just in case fate screws me over." she deadpanned.

"So you're admitting you want me so badly?" he joked again with a chuckle.

Slapping his chest playfully she laughed softly and looked to him expectantly with a flushed face.

With a gentle caress against her cheek, he leaned in and whispered low and huskily into her ear.

"Close your eyes."

She obliged to his command and willingly closed her eyes and before she knew it, she felt the soft, warmth of his lips press against her forehead and felt him withdraw quickly.

With a look of shock and a glare, she touched her forehead and pouted as she stared into that infamous eye crinkle she had gotten to know. His face was covered by that oh so famous mask he seemed to love wearing and she glared a little more. Se felt somewhat embarrassed for expecting more, but she knew better than to blame anyone but herself. She knew it was her fault since she didn't indicate the type of kiss she wanted. But that didn't stop the obvious pout that pressed against her lips as he played with her hand.

"What a dirty trick." she mumbled to herself.

"You didn't say what type of kiss. You're the one who said to treat it like a love story. "Who knows where it'll lead."" he said, quoting her on his last remark.

"I don't think fate will screw you over now that you've felt my infamous lips against your forehead." He joked. "Let's think of it as a good luck charm."

She playfully slapped his arm and tried her best to look angry but couldn't. The man was one in a million and she knew it would have been a waste to get angry with him.

"You're so full of yourself." she laughed.

"Well thank you for noticing." he chuckled.

As they were absolutely sure no one was behind them, they made their way towards the door and stopped just before opening it.

"Text me when you make it to your place alive loser." she joked. Slowly, and very dreadfully, she released her hold from his hand.

"Will do." he chuckled.

With a final set of tears that threatened to fall from her eyes, she smiled warmly and turned to him.

"No regrets." she confirmed.

"No regrets." he replied warmly.

As they both turned towards the door, they exited simultaneously, seeing their respectable parties waiting eagerly for them. Without so much as looking at one another, the two separated into different paths, never to meet again until fulfilling their promise. Or at least that's what they thought.

* * *

**Author's Note: I _had_ to write this. I know I have 2 other long lasting fanfics that I've pissed my readers off about because I haven't updated in like, a month, but I just _had_ to write this. Another long lasting fanfic. I couldn't just write the base idea for it and leave it to collect dust. I felt so compelled to write it as I was listening to some really interesting songs **

**I hope you enjoyed the prologue. Please review to your hearts content to let me know how you feel about it.  
**

**-Rusala.  
**


	2. Rocky waters

Watching her while she stapled what looked like lesson packets from the door only piqued his curiosity. How did she get here? Taking in her attire he found his eyes carefully remembering every line of her dark blue jeans, her red tank top, and her white cardigan. Her pink tresses had grown a little longer from when he last saw her but they still danced along her shoulders.

Seeing her grab for a thermos of what he assumed was coffee, and blowing against the heat as the searing liquid slowly inched closer to her lips, Kakashi felt like he wanted to very much to take her into his arms regardless of what she was holding. Heck with what she was holding. He would have gladly thrown it to the floor or the little trash bin under the desk she stood in front of. But instead, he watched her just a bit longer before seeing her return the thermos back to a safe spot before he cleared his throat to catch her attention.

"Ah if you're the new teacher can you hold on for just a second? I have seven more packets to finish before I start your orientation." she chirped without turning from where she stood.

'_Orientation?' _he thought curiously. _'Oh, if I remember correctly, I did miss something like that.'_

Smiling inwardly at his own negligence he was suddenly brought into attention when he heard her lecturing him.

"-You've got some nerve missing orientation without giving a call." she half-joked while a yawn escaped her lips. "To think I had to wake up earlier than usual and wait two hours for you. Well whatever, we're glad to have you on board."

The moment Sakura finished stapling the last packet, she turned to greet the new teacher with a warm smile but found herself staring in shock at the man she clearly remembered.

"Yo." he said, with a smile hiding behind his mask and raised hand. "Glad to see you haven't changed."

This was a dream…right? This had to have been a dream. Sakura stared at Kakashi as if she had just seen a ghost. This wasn't real. What were the chances of seeing him again before their promise could be fulfilled? Dropping the lesson packets she had just finished stapling, Sakura nervously and frantically bent down to collect the work that had fallen and strewn itself all around the floor.

'_No way! No way! No way!'_ she thought over and over, never paying attention to his movements until she felt a warm hand press against hers as she grabbed for a packet.

"That surprised huh? Looks like fate didn't screw you over." he chuckled, seeing the bright red flush form across her cheeks.

Quickly pulling her hand away from him as if he were some sort of disease, she grabbed the rest of the packets as fast as she could and scooted a healthy distance away.

"Y-You're the new teacher?" She stammered.

"Something tells me you're not glad to see me." he joked.

Shaking her head fast enough to make her slightly dizzy she quickly tried to regain her cool.

"No. I'm…I'm just really surprised…what are you doing here?"

"I'm the new physics teacher." he laughed, as he stated the obvious; clearly enjoying the sight before him. "And what are _you_ doing here? Are you the school nurse? I thought you were offered a job in the next city over?"

Disregarding his question, she bit her lower lip, furrowed her brows, and quickly turned on the balls of her feet, placing the packets onto her desk, and grabbing a sheet of paper in return. Clearing her throat and shaking whatever nerves she had, she coughed nervously and began to read the paper aloud.

"Welcome to Konoha High School. I will be your instructor for this orientation. My name is insert name-ah-, I mean Sakura Haruno, and I hope that you can come to me in the future for any problems you may have along the way. Should I not be around to answer your questions, please feel free to ask any nearby teacher for advice or assistance."

Kakashi looked at her with a stupefied expression. Where was that warm, reunion? She had completely ignored him to start whatever it was that she was starting.

"We are a school, a community, and a family and would be more than welcomed to assist you. I, and the school, hope you have an interesting time from here on out and we would like extend our hands to you, a new family member of this school."

Kakashi stared at her for a second with an expression that said, 'you're joking right?' and then tried to hide the laughter that was rumbling in his chest.

'_What was with that cheesy dialogue? Did she really just read from that script in a monotone voice?'_

Kakashi couldn't help it. The laughter he tried to swallow escaped his lips in little 'pffts' and coughs. With a pout and flushed cheeks Sakura turned to face him and continued to speak in a different, less monotone voice.

"This is the math and science preparation room. You may think of it as a teachers' lounge as well." she said, and walked to the desk on the right side of hers. "This is your desk. We ask that you do not damage or write on it as we switch the desks around periodically. We ask that you respect school property as it is shared amongst the other teachers in the school."

Walking towards the door, avoiding Kakashi as best as possible, she nodded for him to follow along stating she was giving him a tour.

At first, this whole 'orientation' thing had been funny and amusing to him, but as soon as the tour began, Kakashi found himself feeling irritated at the distance she kept between them. She always kept her distance at a minimum of three feet and her words seemed cold and distant. They were supposed to be friends right? That promise he willingly agreed to wasn't made for nothing. So why was she acting this way?

"Our school is different. We follow a more westernized view as we allow the students to dress casually. The uniforms are optional and can be used as a form of extra credit to show your pride and enthusiasm for the school; of course, that depends from teacher to teacher. Unlike other schools, our teachers do not move from class to class unless they happen to teach another subject. We feel that it is the students' responsibility to change and make it to class on time given the ten minute interval between class periods. It is also a way to prepare them for a college or university mindset of transitioning between classes."

On and on she went about the school, the students, the location of cafeteria and how teachers get their lunches, the library, the office, the restrooms, and finally they came to a stop in front of a classroom. Pulling a small set of keys, Sakura unlocked the room and handed the keys to Kakashi, avoiding his hand as much as she could; scared that her heart could possibly stop.

Walking into the dark classroom, she turned on the light and continued her relentless explanation as Kakashi followed behind and closed the door in tow.

"This is your classroom. You have a desk and a desktop computer provided by the school. You are free to use it or ignore it but we do encourage you to use it as the end of the year scores will be inputted electronically."

The room was large, and the window shutters were closed. The dingy light source and the bare white walls in the room reminded Kakashi too much of a hospital room and had already begun to hate it.

Inwardly groaning as he glanced around what he averaged to be around thirty two desks, he turned his attention back towards Sakura as she made her way to the white board; pulling out a set of markers from a hidden compartment and had begun to write on the board, continuing her long, thorough explanation.

"We teach students on a block schedule to give them more time to fully learn their lessons and ask questions. It also provides an adequate time frame for lectures, explanations, and in-class projects you may assign. From seven thirty in the morning to two thirty in the afternoon, each class is about an hour and twenty minutes long. You have eight classes in total. Today is a Monday, so we start on block one. Homeroom, first period, second period, lunch, third period, fourth period, then homeroom again. Having homeroom twice a day gives the students extra time to work on their assignments or search out other teachers for assistance with their lessons, though it is only ten minutes long. They are not required to return to their homeroom as they are free to leave early or encouraged to stay back in their last class. The day after block one is your block two schedule. Homeroom, fifth period, sixth, lunch, seventh, eighth, and then homeroom once more. Should Friday end with block one, the following Monday will start the block two schedule. Should Friday end with block two, Monday will start the block one schedule. Any questions?"

What the hell was Kakashi listening to? Block this, block that. All he knew was that his classes were unnecessarily longer than he had hoped and he had to see his students from home room twice a day. Maybe three times if he had them for his regular lessons. Comprehending all of the last minute information Sakura had just tossed his way, his lone eye followed her with precision as she moved towards the windows to press down on heavy, iron levers; causing the shutters to open and give the room a bright, warm, lively feel.

Just as Sakura was about to leave, Kakashi gently grabbed her hand and out of habit, used the pad of his thumb to rub a little circle onto her hand. Sakura shuddered from his touch and looked to him with the same, affectionate eyes he had gotten to know but her face took on a thoughtful, torn expression.

"Sakura." he exhaled, letting her name roll from his lips effortlessly.

It was low, and it had a certain ring to it; resonating through her ears as it seemed to echo off of the walls.

"Talk to me." he urged.

It didn't sound like a command, and it didn't sound like a suggestion. As cool, calm, and collected as it seemed, there was almost a hint of plea hidden in the edge of it. Sakura bit her lower lip for what felt like the hundredth time and looked to his face desperately as Kakashi interlaced his fingers with hers; bringing back every last bit of fond memories she had with him.

Sakura looked down to the same, warm, protective hand she appreciated and back to the face of the man she had grown fond of over the summer, slightly parting her lips to speak but closed them instantly.

"Your phone was disconnected." he said in a low tone, and looked at her with an inquisitive, yet tired eye.

That eye. It had a away of locking and seeing right through her in moments she never expected. There were days or times it made her feel completely exposed in front of him, maybe even naked. But they were always soft and genuine to her.

Sakura couldn't help the warmth the spread through her body, making her feel embarrassed and happy at the same time. He was looking at her. He tried to call her. That was more enough to make her feel all giddy on the inside.

"My phone was stolen while I was moving back here." she said quietly. Her voice could have contradicted what she was feeling on the inside but Kakashi knew her better than that. He knew she was trying her best to not be swept away in the tide known as Kakashi Hatake.

"Do you still want this?" he asked, referring to their promise and searched for any source of doubt she could display. Instead, she gently pulled her hand away from his, looked to him with sad eyes, and gave him a small smile with a simple reply.

"Yeah…"

"Should I give you my number? Again?" he asked, referring to her story of a stolen phone.

Sakura didn't say anything, instead she pulled out a new smart phone from her backside pocket and pouted a little while she handed it over to him.

"I still don't know how to use it…" she mumbled.

Thinking for a second, Kakashi found himself smiling and saw the perfect opportunity to tease her.

"And what makes you think I know how to use it?" he cooed.

"Most people do." she defended.

"And you don't? Well I must say, your last phone was quite the dinosaur." he chuckled and began to fiddle with her phone, inputting his name and number. "I guess you're just an old lady at heart aren't you?"

Trying her best to glare at Kakashi, he suddenly handed back her phone before she could form some type of retort. He didn't say anything more. Instead, he waited for her to say something. But that 'something' never came as a voluptuous, blond haired woman with golden, fierce eyes, burst through the door.

"So this is where you were!" she thundered with a smile.

But things soon turned ugly as she scowled and turned her attention towards Kakashi.

"You! Newbie! You have some nerve failing to come to orientation, let alone ignore my phone calls! I should have fired you from the get go but desperate times calls for desperate measures. Don't miss important things like that again! You understand?" she chided.

Her yelling had caught Kakashi off guard but it never phased Sakura. She simply shrugged if off and carefully placed her cell phone back into its rightful pocket; leaving Kakashi to think fast for his response.

"Yes, I'm truly sorry for the trouble I have caused. Things had been quite hectic with moving into the city, finding an apartment, changing my phone and everything." Kakashi laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head. "You must be Tsunade." he said, extending a hand out to shake.

"Damn straight you're sorry!" she bellowed. "And yes I am." she beamed, holding her hand out and welcoming Kakashi with a strong, handshake. "Welcome to Konoha High School." she greeted, and walked towards Sakura, placing a warm hand on her shoulder. "I hope our student council president provided an excellent explanation and tour around the school." she beamed.

"Yes she was very thorough and quite-"

Kakashi had stopped himself in mid-sentence. What did she just say? Student council president? President right? He heard president? Not adviser? But president? Kakashi looked towards Sakura who averted her gaze with a painful expression and could clearly see just how upset and ashamed she was. Quickly catching himself and recollecting his words he continued to speak.

"-impressive. She's quite the capable student."

"Of course she is! She's also the top student in this school! Anything less of her would be worrisome!"

"Tsunade, please, I'm not that great." Sakura said, seemingly embarrassed and humble. Truthfully she didn't like the extra attention she was receiving because it placed unnecessary pressure on her to do well.

"Nonsense! And haven't I told you to stop doing that? Flaunt your success!" Tsunade beamed.

* * *

Homeroom was long and dreadful. After introducing himself and entertaining questions about his mask, his eye patch, his age, and a bunch of stupid, useless questions from giddy, giggly girls, Kakashi couldn't help but glance towards Sakura, who sat in the front row, right next to the window. What were the chances of her having been assigned to his homeroom?

Not once had she looked his way. Instead she kept to herself or spoke with the timid Hyuga heiress and the boisterous Uzumaki. During her self introduction she had made it plain and simple. 'My name is…' 'My hobbies are…' 'This isn't about me but those of you who haven't submitted your forms for extra curricular activities, clubs, elective or supplemental classes, please do so within this month.'

'_Spoken like a true student council member.'_ Kakashi thought dryly.

Student. Student. Student. Student. Kakashi couldn't think of anything but that word. It haunted him to every end, corner, shadow, and crevice of his mind. Kakashi groaned inwardly in spite of Sakura. He was upset. Shocked, but upset. Someone he thought he had a connection with turned out to be his student. She lied to him and continued to lie to him until the truth was thrown right into his face. Kakashi didn't take to people who betrayed or lied to him and he was just flat out upset. Nothing more, nothing less. He thought he had her figured out but much to his dismay, he was wrong.

Just as soon as the bell rang, Sakura was out of his class before anyone else could stand or gather their things, processing the loud chime of the bell as it rung and echoed throughout the room and halls.

* * *

Sakura said nothing as she bit into the lunch she had prepared for herself that day. Eating in the teachers' lounge had become the norm for her the past two years and for everyone in the school. If she wasn't in there eating, reading, or studying, she was in the courtyard, on the roof, or by the patch of forest on the stone benches doing exactly the same thing as she would have in the teachers' lounge; eat, study, or read. There were a good amount of times she would be seen, acting like a normal teenage girl, eating with her friends and gossiping, but it was sad watching how her life revolved around school and school only. It wasn't "healthy" as the bystanders would say, but they never argued against it. Instead, they let her do as she pleased.

As she took another bite into her lunch, it didn't bother, let alone surprise her, that Kakashi had cautiously taken his seat next to her as she had just finished reading ahead for her history class. Smiling to herself she closed the history book and tossed it into her bag, and eagerly pulled out a worn, paperback novel Kakashi seemed to recognize all too well.

"You seriously brought that with you on the first day?" he leered as he buried his nose into a book Sakura recognized all too well. A book she often disagreed with, calling it 'smut'.

"The same applies to you." she sang. "If you must know, I had to wait for this book to dry, but by the time it dried, someone seemed to have occupied all of my time and I couldn't get any chance to read it." she said in a matter-of-fact tone and flipped to the next page.

"No one said you had to talk to me." he replied, almost falling into a type of teasingly conversation that he had grown so accustomed to during the summer.

"No one said you had to talk to me either." she muttered.

But somehow things weren't so light and bright as the atmosphere had begun to change and in a matter of seconds, the tension was heavy. Kakashi was upset and hesitant while Sakura was just a complete wreck of happy, nervous, distraught, and all the other emotions that could make her come off as harsh or brash.

Glancing around the lounge to see the coast was clear, Kakashi heaved a heavy sigh and closed his book, carefully placing it onto his desk.

"We're calling a stop to it. Now. I can't follow through with that promise."

Sakura said nothing as she read the next couple of chapters, humming to herself in response.

"Sakura, listen to me, we can't do this. _I_ can't do this. You're still a child."

"That's not what you thought during the summer."

"Sakura there is a difference between then and now." he exhaled and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Is that so? I don't see any difference." she argued, and closed her book quickly to look at him.

"Sakura, there is a major difference. Especially in age. In occupation. You lied to me."

"I never lied to you!" she hissed with a face that looked hurt. "Everything I said was the truth."

"Well you didn't tell me the _whole_ truth now did you?"

Pursing her lips and furrowing her brows Sakura swallowed hard and spoke.

"You wouldn't have suggested that we 'date'."

"Of course I wouldn't have. You're seventeen."

"But that never stopped you from assuming I was in my early twenties. Does age really matter to you?"

"Yes, it does Sakura. I'm ten years your senior. That's a decade." He said, and winced at his own words. "You're young and have yet to experience real relationships."

"What makes you so sure I've never been in relationships before?" she said coldly. "I'm surprised Kakashi. Up until this morning you had no problem looking at me for me, let alone look at me as a woman."

"Sakura, you're just a high school student. You don't know what you're talking about."

"And you think you do?" Sakura laughed almost bitterly. "I really thought you were different. I guess you lied to me as well huh?"

"I never lied. Unlike you I was open about a lot of things. Its obvious you don't even work as a nurse."

"Can't you be open to us?" she said, pointing to herself and Kakashi. "And for your information, I do work as a nurse. I would never lie to someone I care for by lying about something I take seriously. You should know me better than that."

Her words stung. Kakashi should have known her better than that. He did, at first, but now, he wasn't so sure. Anything he had felt about her, anything he had known about her, was long gone. She was nothing but a stranger to him.

"Sakura, I can't. I'm sorry."

"… … I guess your good luck charm was a waste then wasn't it?…"

"I guess it was." he sighed and stood to gather his things.

Pursing her lips together Sakura looked to him desperately and with a shaky voice she spoke.

"Does this mean we can't at least be friends?"

That tone. Kakashi hated that tone. It was hurt, it was desolate, and it was still trying its best to stay hopeful. Sakura had used it once before and it nearly broke him apart. This time, he wasn't sure how he felt about it. It tugged and pulled at him, leaving a heavy unwanted feeling in his chest. It was painful hearing it and it would have been more painful to look at her face.

Pulling his messenger back over his shoulder he turned to leave when Sakura called out to him again.

"Kakashi…" she called, sounding desperate and vulnerable with tears that had begun to form in her eyes.

Kakashi could only bite the inside of cheek at how hurt she sounded. Why? Why did it have to be her?

"I don't know Sakura…" he exhaled gruffly and tiredly. "I'll see you in AP."

* * *

**Later that day...**

"Alright, since it's the first day of school, I'm feeling generous. I'll let you take your quiz home and turn it in tomorrow. Don't forget the review questions on page seventeen."

As soon as Kakashi had finished his last remark, the bell went off, letting students know that the end of the day homeroom period would start, telling everyone to shuffle outside of their class, and leaving Sakura to sit in her favorite seat by the window alone with Kakashi. She never said anything to him and he did the same. She wanted nothing more than to just turn in her assignment but feared what he would think if she approached him.

'_No. He's the same as everyone else. He's a teacher. Fight or not, turn it in like you always have and scare the crap out of him at just how impressive you are.'_

Hiding a smile to herself, she hesitantly made her way to his desk and held her papers out to him expectantly. Kakashi eyed the papers in her hand skeptically before asking a plain, but stupid question. "What are these?"

"The quiz and the review."

"Sakura, you can take it home and check it for mistakes. I'll collect them tomorrow."

"Excuse me?" she said, sounding completely insulted. "If anyone made any mistakes it was you. Question four problem "B" and question nine. I took the liberty of correcting it and solving it. There _are_ no mistakes…_now_."

Cocking his visible brow and slowly taking the little collection of papers from her hand, Kakashi pulled out a red pen from his pocket and a graphing calculator from his messenger bag, ready to prove her wrong as the room slowly began to fill with students from homeroom.

"Forehead! I didn't get a chance to see you this morning! The mother unit made me watch the shop until lunch while she had her _'waterworks'_ examined. But I'm here now!" Squealed an excited, blond young woman with stunning blue eyes and hair so long you wondered how many shampoo bottles she went through a month.

Sakura, who had long since returned to her seat by the window, smiled affectionately at her friend. "You didn't miss anything important. First days are always boring."

"Forehead, I have to tell you about my summer and you're going to die when I tell you what happened." She said, quickly disregarding Sakura's opinion on 'the first day'.

"I'm sure you have a lot to tell me pig."

"I do! I do! I don't know where to start! First you were gone for two months, then you came back and did nothing but work, I felt so lonely! The bell is going to ring in ten minutes anyways so we can talk about it at your place." she squealed.

"Sorry but I'm booked for this evening. My shift starts at-"

"Miss Yamanaka I presume?" Kakashi butted in as he handed Sakura her quiz. "I'll grade your review later." he added, directing that last comment to Sakura.

"Yes?" the blond bombshell of a student asked.

"Do you have an excuse slip for not attending homeroom?" he asked with an eye crinkle.

Twitching her brow, she gave the man a look over and sighed. "No, I don't. I know the drill, I'm unexcused." she said, waving her hand to dismiss him as if he were the most unimportant person in the world.

Sakura tried her best not to laugh as Kakashi had an awkward look plagued across his face that only she could notice. Only she knew how to process each line, each crease, and the depth of the each eye crinkle. As much as he upset her, hurt her, and accused her of lying to him, she still couldn't hide the fondness she had for him.

Shifting her gaze down to her quiz, she saw the mark of 100% written stiffly and somewhat grudgingly onto her paper and tried to bite down her smile, but she couldn't. Feeling the corners of her lips give in to a little raise, she neatly folded her quiz and placed it in her bag as she listened to her loud friend talk at what sounded like a prerecorded conversation set on fast forward. Ten minutes? That was nothing for Ino to convey what happened over summer. Five, that was a challenge and she seemed to be making record time as Sakura nodded with a thoughtful expression on her face.

* * *

Two weeks had passed since the start of the school year and Sakura had already glued herself to the seat by the window.

"Two weeks…" Sakura mumbled quietly to herself as she felt so entranced by the clouds outside of the window. The first sign of rain for August. Sakura was tired, but she loved the rain despite it being one of her most traumatic experiences. She should have grown to hate it, but she couldn't. She loved the way it felt against her hot skin, the way it left you with a snuggling feeling as you wake up and curl into your sheets, and the way it was always perfect to pick up a book and drink something warm. But she loved the rain for another reason. She loved fond memories that would flood her each time she saw or encountered the rain.

Sighing to herself, her mind had begun to travel into its own little narrative story during her AP Physics class.

.

_The story of a young pink haired woman and a silver haired man had begun when she visited her grandmother for the seventeenth summer of her life in a small town about four hours away from the main city she lived at. _

_Nothing ever happened in the town her grandmother lived in and it was summers like this she dreaded the most. She loved her grandmother but there was nothing to do but read the entire time she was there. And for as long as she could remember, unlike most places, it rained frequently in this little town during the summer. There was absolutely nothing to do but read, walk to the nearest convenience store, or stay indoors. _

_You would think an umbrella would be her best friend during this time of year but it wasn't. She considered it to have been an insult to the best friend she already had. _

_._

_The pinkette heaved a heavy sigh as she stood under the overhang of the convenience store, reading her book, hoping for the rain to slow down. She knew better than to hope for something like that and decided to just enjoy the book she read, giving a polite nod to the silver haired man next to her who returned the nod with a smile covered by his scarf. He too had a book he seemed to be engulfed in and the young woman never once dared to interrupt his reading. She knew the feeling all too well that it was bothersome when someone bothered you just when the book was getting good. _

_An hour had passed and the rain had begun to slow, catching the attention of both the silver haired man and the pinkette, who nodded politely to one another and stepped out, walking in opposite directions from the convenience store._

_And for every day of that week, the same suit followed. The young woman would read her book in hopes for the rain to let up, as did the silver haired man. Each time she saw him he either wore a scarf, a turtle neck sweater pulled over his nose, a mask, or a medical mask. She never questioned his appearance since this was the rainy season in this town. One could easily become sick so she never thought twice about it. But it was also because he had nothing to with her that she would just continue to read._

_To the silver haired man's perspective, it was always the pink of her hair that caught his attention. Though he wondered what a rebellious lady was doing in a town out in nowhere, he didn't question it any further and only bothered himself with his book. _

_It was the same, just about everyday. Why the two never spoke to one another, no one would ever know. It was clear they had the same mindset and were completely in tune with one another. On a few, very windy afternoons, both the man and woman had engrossed themselves with a book while the rain blew hard against them. On instinct, both the man and woman would turn their backs toward the raging wind and rain, continuing to read their book as they sheltered it with their bodies. But regardless of how "in-tune" they were with one another, they never spoke. _

_Two weeks had passed by and the monotonous cycle had been broken as the young woman had forgotten her book. Only able to stare out into the rain with a bored expression upon her face, she had a nasty habit of sighing every five to ten minutes. _

_The silver haired man, who grew a little irritated at her behavior, felt somewhat sympathetic to her situation and closed his book; gently tucking it into a pocket on the inside of his jacket and looked to her, uninterested at first. But he soon began to notice quiet a few things. He noticed how her pink locks brushed over her shoulders and tickled her cheeks as the wind blew on and off during the rain. He also noticed her fair, creamy skin and lightly berry colored, supple lips purse or press together when she seemed to be thinking to herself. Lastly, he noticed, through well fitted jeans, tank top, and sweater, she held simple, yet delicate curves on a taut, fit body with a chest that seemed perfect enough to fit in one's hand without spilling out or not being enough. _

_Hearing her sigh again were like nails on a chalkboard for him and found himself sighing with her. Quickly, trying to break the habit of her sighing that would cause him to sigh, he cleared his throat and spoke up, catching her attention. _

"_Lovely weather today isn't it?" He asked, and smiled to her. _

_The pinkette didn't know what to think at first. She had been in her own little world until she heard smooth, husky words leave the man she always stood next to while she waited for the rain to pass or let up. She turned to looked at him and see his visible eye crinkle and looked at his gravity defying hair and then down his body before returning to his face. He was tall. Very tall compared to her. And although she couldn't see his face, he seemed somewhat handsome. She could have sworn he always wore an eye patch but maybe she could have been wrong as her eyes roamed over the light scar over his closed left eye and back to his full face. _

_She found herself smiling and laughing at his attempt of an ice breaker and looked back out to the pouring rain. _

"_It does have a certain appeal to it doesn't it?" She said with a giggle and a softened expression and tucked a few ticklish strands of hair stuck to her cheek, behind her ear. _

"_Kakashi…" he said, holding out a hand to shake. _

_She eyed the hand displayed to her curiously and placed her own into his, grasping onto the warmth and shaking gently with a smile. _

_"Sakura."_

_.  
_

"Sa..kura"

.

"…kura."

.

"Ms. Sakura Haruno." a familiar voice called to her.

Sakura slowly turned her attention to the silver haired man of her story in a trance and hummed curiously in response.

"If you're going to daydream, please do it somewhere else. I was just explaining-"

"-that the distance traveled from point A to point B can be solved by d = v1t + at2/2. But if the variable of the distance is not given then you need to solve for "t" first." she completed for him, as she heaved a heavy sigh and propped her palm under her chin.

"I'm listening."

Staring into that lone, onyx eye was painful for her. He treated her coldly, kept her at a distance, and never once gave her an answer about being friends.

Kakashi stared into those phased, jade colored eyes that seemed to have lost its spark the moment he caught her attention. Where was the gleam in her eyes as she stared outside of the window? The soft sighing he knew too well that irked him? The small smile that subconsciously danced across her lips? It was painful looking at her. Talking to her just now felt like he was talking to an empty husk of a person. Kakashi couldn't deny she was smart, but today her moxie from the first day of school seemed to have dispersed.

"Very well then." he commented and continued on with his lecture, noticing how her gaze slowly shift back towards the window and smiled softly as the light pitter patter of rain had begun to hit the glass of the large window beside her.

.

As the last bell of the day rang, students had excitedly erupted from their classes, ready to enjoy the start of their weekend but not Sakura. Sakura had made her way to the teacher's lounge and began working on various little projects at the desk she seemed to own. She didn't care who was there. She had a job to do and she couldn't procrastinate. Even if it was Kakashi. She couldn't let him get the best of her and let his presence slow her down.

She was there for a good amount of time as she would glance to her phone every so often to check the time.

"Four fifteen..." she muttered to herself.

"Go home Sakura." Kakashi suggested, though it sounded more like a hidden order as he read through the pages of his favorite book, in secrecy. No one knew he had hollowed out the inside of another book just so that he could read without interruptions and he had to smile in spite of himself. Normally he would have read it out in the open without a care in the world, but he purposely did it for the thrill of trying to get caught. Kakashi liked the feeling of knowing what everyone else didn't know and wondered if he'd ever get caught. A fun game to pass the long, agonizing hours at school, and the long, slight animosity he held for Sakura. What would she do if she found out what he was doing with his book? The girl loved books to the end of the earth. So did he but just a different genre. One sacrifice so that he could enjoy a book was wroth it. What would she think about that?

Kakashi had to stop what he was thinking right there and then. Why was he even thinking about what she might think? She wasn't his concern anymore. He made it flat out obvious he wanted nothing more to do with her than just be her teacher. He couldn't let go of the fact that she wasn't honest about her age. Encouraging their relationship would have been wrong and he would be seen as the bad guy for influencing her into it. But wasn't he at fault too? For assuming she was a woman in her twenties despite her youthful appearance? For listening to her words but maybe not absorbing the hidden messages like books mostly held?

"You go home." she said in a dull manner. She never looked up from her desk as she read over propositions for activity events for the students, signing her name along the way and stapling together written reports with them.

"I can't go home until you do." he said coolly. A tone Sakura hadn't heard in a while. A tone he had tossed away just to show his distaste for her, or so it seemed.

Shaking her thoughts back into reality she replied in the same dull manner, showing how indifferent she was towards what he had to say at all. But deep inside she was secretly happy he would have even spoken to her at all.

"Well you'll be here for a while then. As soon as I finish approving these activities I have to post the newest list of policies and clubs around the school."

"Student council is a team effort. Isn't that the job of your Public Relations officer? General Affairs officer too?"

"Both sick."

"Activity Coordinator and Secretary then." he shrugged.

"Left already."

"Sergeant of Arms? Vice President?"

"Basketball practice. Work."

"You're just digging yourself a early grave."

"Thanks for your support _Sensei_." she said a little too bitterly.

Sensei. It sounded completely wrong hearing her refer to him that way. It made him feel much too old for his tastes. But ever since their argument from the first day, she never did address him as anything. If she wanted his attention she always caught it with, "here, hey, um, so, and this.". It wasn't the most polite way of getting his attention but, whatever right? He had gotten what he wanted. He had gotten to pull the plug on that promise they made. They were to be nothing more than just student and teacher.

Flipping the page to see where the heroine was going with her confession, Kakashi heard Sakura sigh. That sigh. That ever so familiar sigh that seemed liked nails against a chalkboard to him. He really couldn't get over it. He couldn't understand why it irritated him so much but he knew it meant she was bored. He knew it meant she would much rather be reading a book. Shrugging and clearing his throat he spoke again.

"Go home Sakura." he said again, wanting to save them both.

"No. If you hate being here then why don't _you_ go. Its your fault for being the last teacher in here. If you had left with Genma you wouldn't be stuck here now would you? I would have had a nicer teacher and maybe a nicer conversation too."

Genma? Not Mr. Shiranui? Not Genma Sensei? Not Shiranui Sensei? Sakura was referring him too casually and something about it made the hair on the back of his neck stand.

"You mean Shiranui-_Sensei_." he corrected.

"No I mean Genma."

"Sakura that's impolite."

"No its not. Other students use his first name. There is nothing wrong with it. If you're on good standings with the teacher then its fine, right?" she said, with a desolate distance in her voice.

I suppose." he hummed. "In any case, I can't leave you here."

"Any why not?"

"Because, as your teacher, I'm responsible for you."

Sakura stopped writing a light report and looked at Kakashi questioningly before letting out a snarky laugh.

"Hah! Yea right. You're really going to pull the teacher card on me?"

"I can't? I don't see the issue. I _am_ your teacher after all. You _are_ my student."

"Oh, such a good teacher you are." she spat, rolling her eyes and continuing to finish the report she needed to attach with a few formal documents. "Look, its obvious you don't want to be near me anymore. You won't even let us be friends. Is _that_ being a teacher too? Teachers are _supposed_ to be friends to their students. Provide education, emotional assistance, and just be a role model for those they teach. But you sure seem to be biased at the students you befriend don't you?"

"Oh? If that's what you wanted then of course I'll be your obligated friend of the education system." he said nonchalantly with a smile. Kakashi had to inwardly grimace at his choice of words. Why was he was acting this way? He was reaching the epitome of asshole and he knew it.

Rolling her eyes, she finished the report and had started on the next one without really paying attention to him. But there was something that had been bothering her.

"Kakashi…why did you talk to me?" she asked hesitantly and seriously.

"Because I want to go home."

"I'm not talking about that. Why did you talk to me that day?"

Stopping himself from reading the turning point of his book, Kakashi found his stomach dropping and felt his hands gripping the book a little tighter.

"Sakura, don't start this again."

"I'm not starting anything. I want to know the truth. Why did you talk to me? You could have easily left me alone. The same thing applies now. If you really wanted nothing to do with me then why are you still sitting here? You should leave if you can't stand me. I'll be fine here by myself. I do this much too often anyways and the teachers know that too."

Kakashi swallowed hard and wondered that too. Why was he still there? There really wasn't any reason for him to be there other than being her teacher and watching after her. Thinking quick on his feet he said something the knew he would regret much later.

"A student alone in the teachers' lounge? The preparation room where tests are made and answers are kept? How does that look to other teachers and students?" he said indifferently.

"Excuse me?" she said, completely distraught and rage had begun to fill the once delicate features of her face.

"Its just a precautionary measure. You understand right?"

No. He didn't want to say that. Why was he saying it? He couldn't turn back now. He couldn't stop. He couldn't atone or take back anything he had just said. He never wanted to say something like that. Why? Why did he say it?

Sakura stared at him, completely at a loss for words. Was this really the man she had feelings for? Was this the man she had gotten to know over the summer? No. That man was gone wasn't he? She was completely over raged to the point of crying. Not once has she ever been accused by cheating and never, had she imagined she would be accused by someone she cared about.

Collecting her things with an angry expression and tear filled eyes, Sakura quickly stood and did the most unthinkable thing ever. She slapped his face and Kakashi got a good look at her face. The rage filled jade eyes she had were alive again and pierced him in a deadly glare. Everything he saw screamed that she was hurt beyond words. If that wasn't bad enough, she had really begun to cry.

"Sa-" he started but fell short as her shouting and sobbing tore through the room.

"How dare you! First you completely disregard my feelings and treat me like I'm a nuisance! You treat me coldly and indifferently compared to other students! Some teacher you are! At first I thought, 'ok I'm screwed but oh well. I can endure it', but now you're accusing me of cheating? You have a lot a nerve you jerk!"

With nothing left to be said, she stormed out of the room, bag in tow, and tears staining her face. What had Kakashi done? Why? Why did he say that? He wasn't satisfied with just being indifferent to her was he? Kakashi took the liberty of hitting his head against the desk and groaned aloud only to hear the door burst open. Kakashi quickly spun around to see the same, angered young woman with cheeks red beyond compare.

"And another thing! You ruined a perfectly good novel just to hide that smut! What are you? Twelve? Grow up you stupid pervert!" and then she ran out. This time never turning back.

* * *

**Author's note:**

**I had to do it. I had to make him a jerk lol. It makes the growth and development between them even better. Muahahaha. Read and review to let me know your thoughts. I really appreciate them. And I hope you liked this chapter. **

**-Rusala  
**


	3. Danger

**Friday 4:23pm**

Slamming the front door with full force, Sakura sauntered into her apartment and threw her things into the center of her living room, or what should have been a living room. There were two simple shelves filled with books, a cheep couch that turned into a bed that she had gotten from Ino's family, a worn coffee table that she had also gotten from Ino, and a plastic plant. The only real decoration in the room were the two brown throw pillows that matched the color of the couch and the quilted blanket that had been folded neatly against the back of the couch.

Quickly running towards the couch, Sakura grabbed for one of the pillows and screamed with her all her might into it, while guiding herself to sit, only to find herself miserably missing the couch and falling flat on her ass onto the smooth, hardwood floor.

"That jerk!" she cried and held onto the pillow for comfort.

Sakura needed this cry. All the pent up anger and frustration had finally hit its breaking point and she felt so helpless as she gasped and sobbed. It was one thing having Kakashi blow her off completely and treat her like a nuisance, it was another suggesting she was cheating. She thought she could keep her brave face and handle the cold treatment but deep down it hurt too much. Why couldn't things stay the way they were in the summer? She was happy, no, correction, _they_ were happy. They spent their days talking and enjoying the company one another had to offer, holding hands, and just being anywhere. It didn't matter. Those days, despite looking gloomy are dreary from the weather, were the brightest days Sakura had ever seen in a long, long time.

Her tears were cut short as she realized there was the semi muffled sound of the television pouring through her walls and suddenly, she wasn't in the mood to cry anymore, she was in the mood to punch someone in the face.

Standing up and moving towards the wall, Sakura pounded her fist against the wall to shut her neighbors up but, like every time she had done so for the past three weeks, her labors never produced any fruit. At first she was just being nice and decided not to call management and placed a letter into the front door's mail box, but the noise didn't stop. If it wasn't some form of music, or the television, it was the noises of intimacy her neighbors would make in the evenings; sometimes in the day if it was a weekend. It was obvious a young couple lived there but Sakura had never seen or met them. They seemed to never be home and for the rare occasions they were, they rustled and bustled around their apartment. Sakura had deemed them as the worst neighbors in the history of time and was determined to make a formal complaint this weekend. She just couldn't take it anymore.

Putting up with it for three weeks was just putting unnecessary stress on her. The week before school started, the first week of school, and now this week were stressful and the noise violation wasn't helping Sakura. She had school, work, and student council. Home was now hazardous to her health as she couldn't get any proper form of sleep and wondered how she hadn't collapsed yet. Where had the first three days she moved into this apartment gone? It was quiet, calming, relaxing, but it was now ruined by the neighboring apartment.

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she sighed heavily and moved into her room, grabbing a clean set of scrubs that had matched her hair color perfectly and had begun to change.

"Double shift tonight huh?" she laughed dryly. "At least my paycheck will be lovely."

Tying the draw strings on her pants, Sakura fumbled out of her room and into her kitchen, in search of something to tide her over until dinner but found nothing. Since when had her fridge gone empty? She could have sworn she had a big dinner last night, a good breakfast this morning, and a decent lunch this afternoon. Or was she just thinking that? It didn't dawn on her much when she ate because she was always moving and always, seemingly eating. She ate subconsciously most of the time so maybe she did in fact eat well. Or were those memories of three days ago? Sighing to herself she made a mental note to go grocery shopping after her shift and just eat dinner in the hospital's cafeteria, if she were lucky enough to beat the new residents on call.

Before leaving her apartment, Sakura grabbed a pre-written letter she had set onto her counter the night before and smirked. She knew this letter wouldn't be ignored this time. Now that she was threatening to bring management into the picture, there was no way her neighbors would ignore her request now.

Grabbing her tote bag, her phone, her wallet and keys, an umbrella, and the letter, Sakura had exited her apartment and noticed something that upset her. The door to her neighbor had just latched closed and Sakura glared as much as she could, desperate for flames to appear over the door. They were home and had deliberately ignored her pounding against the wall. Sakura locked her door, and walked over to her neighbor to give them the well deserve lashing they needed, pounding her fist onto door, trying to be louder than the tv that had been running.

No answer. Pounding and pounding, over and over, there was still no answer. Sakura had literally been pounding on that door for a good ten minutes before she grunted in frustration. She couldn't be here all day. She had work and couldn't waste any more time before missing the same, perfectly timed bus, that she always rode. So Sakura did what any upset person in rush would do, she shoved the letter into the door's mail slot and stomped away; cursing beneath her breath that she would bother management if the noise wasn't gone by the time she came home.

* * *

**Saturday 2:15 am**

The light from his phone seemed to have burned his eyes from within the dark as he stared at the text from someone that wasn't registered in his phone.

'_I need your help with something ^_^'_ it read.

Kakashi didn't think much about the text. He always had wrong numbers sending him text messages. He also still had women texting him for one night stands; women he knew he'd never sleep with again. The odd, smiley face was a dead give away of nightly excursion and Kakashi wanted nothing more than to sleep. Grunting in disapproval and tossing his phone back onto his night stand, he turned onto his stomach and fell back into the gentle slumber that once took hold of him.

* * *

**Monday 8:05 am HOMEROOM**

"That's so scary!" Ino wailed and wrapped her arms around herself. "Are you sure you're not imaging things?"

Ino had caught the attention of everyone in the room and Kakashi had looked over the top bindings of his book, eying the blond questionably. Sakura gulped at the attention that had been brought to their corner of the room and tried to look busy with the homework she had been slacking on. Ever since Friday afternoon, she couldn't think straight, she couldn't get enough sleep - what with her neighbors also being a problem, and she had been purposely adding more work onto her plate to get away from studying or homework. Anything that dealt with school seemed to cause everything that happened Friday afternoon to replay over and over in her head and Sakura was surprised she hadn't been approached by Kakashi; but it was only a matter of time wasn't it? What she did was considered assault, and to a teacher no less. That was a bad situation in itself and now she's having some creeper follow her around at night from the hospital.

"Is there a problem Miss Yamanaka?" Kakashi asked in an uninterested tone.

Ino huffed and waved her hand off to him like she normally did, as if she were swatting away an annoying fly. She really didn't like the man for some reason but Sakura didn't care. That swatting motion made the whole room return to normal and Sakura let out a breath she had been holding.

Sakura nudged Ino and whispered in protest. "Ino, I know I'm not seeing things. I swear someone is following me."

"Then how about filing a police report?" Ino asked quietly.

"They said they can't do anything about it." she said solemnly.

"What do you mean they can't do anything about it?" Ino whispered sharply, trying to keep her voice down.

"Unless I know who he is or have some form of identification for them to go by, they can't do anything else except take note of the incident."

"You mean to tell me that they want you to wait until its too late?" Ino hollered in an upset manner, causing everyone in the room to, once again, stop whatever it was they were doing during homeroom, and look their way.

"Ino, you're too loud." Sakura hushed quickly and laid her face down onto the cool, wooden surface of her desk. Sakura hadn't been feeling so hot lately, or, well, had been feeling hot lately, and felt as if her face could melt away the wood on her table.

"Is there something we can help the two of you with?" Kakashi mused, partially closing his book to look at the two young women who sat within his view.

Ino rolled her eyes and waved her hand again and whined slightly, "Yes, yes we're fine. Stop being so damn nosy."

"Nosey? What on earth would make you call me nosy?" he asked with real curiosity. Surely he had only spoken to them twice this morning and the first time was more out of sarcasm than it was out of concern. It was a far cry from being nosy and he was genuinely interested in what Ino had considered nosy.

"I'm just concerned when I hear a student's irrational outbursts early in the morning." he corrected and went back to reading his book, to avoid a pointless argument.

'_Teenagers…'_ he thought dryly, and flashed a quick glance towards Sakura before fully immersing himself into his book.

* * *

**11:57 am**

"Geeeeeennnnnnmmmmmaaaaa!" Ino sang, as she skipped through the door with Sakura's wrist stuck to her hand.

"Hey, well if it isn't my two prettiest students in the whole school." the said man grinned, showing his pearly white teeth and the very noticeable toothpick between them.

Sakura never understood the science teacher's bad habit of having a toothpick between his lips. He of all people should know how troublesome it would be if he accidentally swallowed it or was punched in the face with it. It wasn't even sanitary to keep it there as the wood soaked up the bacteria within your saliva and chafed your tongue and lips from constant rubbing and shifting. Sakura could only frown slightly at the remembrance of Genma coming into the emergency room one night with his toothpick lodged between his upper and lower lip, festering in the bacteria from the wood of the tooth pick, and causing him a nasty infection. You would think that after something like that, he wouldn't continue to host toothpicks within his mouth on a daily basis, but strange people have strange habits, she concluded. His habit with his toothpick seemed to have gotten worse as she saw him pop in a bite of his lunch and take a swig of his drink, all the while he balanced the toothpick between his lips.

"Comments like that would be considered sexual harassment." Sakura said flatly, trying to scare the teacher.

"W-Wait! I was only complimenting you both! What if I said, "well if it isn't my two ugliest students in the whole school"? Wouldn't that be even worse?" he griped.

"Are we?" Both girls asked in unison, with voices so sharp they could cut a person to shreds and flashed him warning glares.

"No! I'm just saying what if! Seriously why do you guys do this every time?" he whined.

"Because its fun messing with you." Ino said with a giggle.

Genma rustled a hand through his brown locks and looked to both girls questionably.

"Alright, you two don't bother me unless you want something. What do you want?"

"Genma how could you say that?" Ino said with a fake, distraught face and hand over her heart. Sakura smiled a little and shuffled towards one of the lab stools. "We come here seeking your ever so bold guidance."

"Bold? Shouldn't it be 'wise'?"

"It takes a smart, wise person to give wise guidance." Sakura said flatly.

"Geez the two of you are still so brutal." he said with a heavy sigh and nestled himself into the back of his chair.

Ino had motioned to take the chair next to him when he pointed to a lab stool instead, flashing her an apologetic smile. It was quite rare for him to turn her attempts to be closer to him away, especially given their 'special' relationship, but neither of them complained as they saw the extra set of lunch that had been bought by a food stand outside the school gates. It only gestured that he already had company and couldn't let them do as they pleased like they normally did.

After what seemed like a few friendly jokes and conversations, the point of the visit was coming into view and Sakura wanted nothing more than to just leave; especially since the man she assaulted last week walked in with two lunch sets in hand along with two bottles of juice. Could this get any worse? Fate was a nice thing to believe in but at this point, Sakura had begun to hate it with every fiber of her being.

"Genma, you're total is nine-" Kakashi started gruffly, and stopped to change his form of speech upon seeing the two young women from his homeroom. His lone eye quickly flicked away from Sakura the moment he caught sight of her, and walked over to Genma as if she wasn't there.

"Fifteen is your total."

"W-What? Wait a minute! Weren't you about to say nine fifty? I know how much those sets are! Why fifteen?" Genma griped.

"Service fee." Kakashi mused and sat in his 'rightful' seat Ino had tried to claim earlier.

Sakura didn't look to Kakashi. She was in shock that of all teachers, _he_ happened to be the one to join Genma for lunch. With a fake smile, she looked to Genma and nodded her head.

"You seem to be busy right now so we'll be taking our leave. Right Ino?"

Ino looked to Sakura as if a second head had sprung upon her shoulder and looked to Genma and Kakashi, and back to Sakura, slowly nodding her head in realization and agreement, and slid down from the lab stool.

"There's a reason I asked Mr. Hatake to buy two extra sets. Why don't you join us?" Genma suggested as he shook the phone from within his hand.

"What? Really? Well if you don't mind." Ino beamed and walked over to the desk, graciously taking the set that was handed her way.

'_Ino, you would rather stay for food than take the hint? You really are a pig.'_ Sakura groaned inwardly.

"There is no way you could have known we were going to see you today." Sakura stated logically.

"Sakura, its not going to get any hotter." Genam chided, disregarding her statement and held a lunch set in his hand, motioning for her to come closer.

"No its ok. I have something I need to do so-"

"Sakura, you girls don't bother me unless you need something. So? What is it?"

Sakura stared at Genma with eyes that looked a little trapped. She didn't even want to talk to Genma at all but Ino wouldn't stop pestering her and personally went to pick her up. And now that Kakashi had entered the room, she really didn't want to be there any more than when she first entered. Sure, he seemed to be ignoring her like he usually did, but Sakura couldn't help but worry that he was going to bring up the slapping incident sooner or later. If he really wanted to keep things as student and teacher, then for sure she was looking at possible suspension and it didn't help that Sakura knew him enough to understand where he stood when handling altercations such as the one on Friday. It also didn't help the fact that she had tried sending him a text message seeking his help either.

Ino, completely ignoring the hesitant and apprehensive atmosphere Sakura had been creating, spoke between taking bites of the lunch set she was given.

"We need advice. How do you handle stalking?" Ino asked nonchalantly, as if it wasn't a serious topic in the least.

"What? Ino you're being stalked?" Genma asked with concern hanging at the edge of his voice.

"No not me." she laughed. "Sakura's-"

"-Friend." Sakura said quickly, completely cutting Ino off.

Kakashi didn't seemed phased in the least as he played with his phone and turned around to pop a few pieces of fried shrimp into mouth every so often, while Genma placed his food onto the table and tapped at the wood in quick little thumps.

"Sakura you're being stalked?"

"No, not me. My friend." she lied. It was such a cowardly move to make, but the last thing she wanted was to show any other weaknesses in front of Kakashi,. "Do you remember a girl named Haruka? Second session Biology from two years ago? She sat two seats next to me and wore the big, round glasses."

Genma frowned a little, thinking that Sakura was lying through her teeth, but couldn't help but try to think back at the classes he taught, nodding slowly as he vaguely remembered possibly teaching a student like that.

"Remember shortly after the holidays her parents had a divorce and she transferred to another school?"

"I can't really say that I do. Students come and go, but if my memory serves me correctly she had the short bob-type haircut right?"

"That's her. She was visiting her father over the weekend when I ran into her and we just got into talking. One thing lead to another and she began to confide in me about her situation. Ino and I are concerned because she's gone to the police but they can't do anything since she doesn't know who is following her. They told her, and I quote 'There isn't anything we can do at the moment. Unless you have a way to identify him or her, we can only take note of the situation.'"

Sakura mentally slapped herself as she continued on with her story. It was such a painfully obvious lie and Genma and Kakashi were bound to figure it out once she finished. Maybe this time, if fate was on her side, they would believe her story and leave it alone.

"So there you have it. Scary isn't it?" Sakura concluded.

"Sakura, I don't know what to say. She lives in another city so of course police protocol would be different. Now that I think about it, she's a really small girl. Wasn't she soft spoken too?"

Sakura's stomach bounced in relief as the student she conveniently used began to refresh Genma's memory, giving her a clear shot at the finish line from an overly painful race to lie on the spot. Using the words 'my friend' was always the obvious giveaway it was really yourself stuck in the situation, but Sakura had to thank Genma's poor memory with things that didn't pertain to science, Ino, his friends and family, and overly stimulating things and places like amusement parks. It was the perfect persuasive story.

"Yeah that's her. See, you do remember."

Ino kept her silence as she ate the lunch set the was treated to, hiding a proud smile under that stoic way of eating and nodding as if the story Sakura had just told was as solid and real as two plus two equaling four.

"Has she tried anything to change things around?" Genma asked curiously.

"Hmm? How so?"

"You know, work hours, her route home, carrying a pocket knife with her…"

"Genma, she's too timid to carry around a pocket knife let alone old enough to buy one and from what she's told me she can't change her work hours since it works well with her school schedule. As for changing her route home, its usually late at night when she heads home and the only actual safe route is the one she's being followed on."

"Stun gun then?" he suggested.

Sakura's face lit up and grabbed for the phone in her pocket, slowly unlocking it and awkwardly pressing against the screen, trying to find the notepad application. It was a sad attempt, clicking things that didn't lead to a notepad, swiveling the front screen's background from a black background to a white, and always clicking back desperately to the main screen. After what seemed like a painful eternity, Sakura finally found her notepad and began to tap against the faintly illuminated letters that appeared on the screen. Why didn't she think about a stun gun? For a smart person she sure didn't think about all the options that were available, but the more she thought about it, the more she felt that her reasons for not thinking about a stun gun were because her situation had yet to escalate. She was sure that she was being followed - she knew she wasn't seeing things, but that was all that happened. She was just being followed. It dawned on her a few times that whoever was following her could possibly try to assault or rape her, and her only thought was that she could fight back since she could throw punches better than most men she knew, but thinking about it more, that person seemed a little bigger than she was.

"What are you doing?" Genma asked curiously.

"Texting her to get a stun gun." She chirped with a smile.

"Well it must be convenient to be young in today's society." he said, nodding towards her phone. "Tell her to walk home with someone or have someone pick her up too."

"Will… Do…" she said between pressing against the screen of her phone. "Thank you Genma."

No one paid any notice to Kakashi's slight shudder at the sound of her calling the science teacher's name so familiarly. In fact, it was like he wasn't there at all. He made little movement, ate quietly, and as much as he didn't want to, he listened to the story Sakura had just shared. It sounded like a complete lie but its not like he knew her well enough as opposed to how his friend might have. But then a thought crossed his mind, they bothered him for things. The way Genma said it sounded as if he was a little too friendly with them and wondered if that was crossing the lines of being a teacher. Was he special to the girls? A family member perhaps? No, that had to be impossible. For as long as Kakashi had known Genma before going their separate ways, he unfortunately knew all of Genma's relatives. In the end, his conclusion came to a point where it wasn't his business unless his friend was doing something he should haven't been doing.

* * *

**Thursday 11:45 pm**

Sakura did whatever she could to avoid working late night shifts but the hospital just didn't work that way, especially the hospital she worked at. Something always happened, it was always busy, and she always ended up having to stay later than she needed to; making it harder for her to create ways to avoid her stalker, who, always seemed to know when she would leave. A few times she slept over in the room most new residents used when they were on call but she always tried to avoid that. It wasn't the same sleeping in the 'on call' room as it was in her very own and she could confidently say that she hated it. There was no sense of peace and the constant noise of traveling in and out of that room, pagers and radios going on and off about new emergencies and more were just awful. It was no better than sleeping at home but the main difference was that she her bed held warmth and comfort; not the lousy, hard mattress on a single sized double bunk bed that laid in two rows of six in a cold room.

This wasn't healthy for her, sleeping at work, eating less, and building up stress over things about school, Kakashi, and her stalker. She was well aware of the damages she was causing to herself and could feel the feverish sweats and heat kicking into her as she went about her days. It felt painful to wake up in the morning both physically and mentally, her energy in the day seemed to have been dying and Sakura found herself sitting more often than usual, and lastly, she was losing her appetite and grimaced at the sight of food she usually loved. Any sort of provisions seemed to make her stomach swirl in circles and threatened to have her hurl up everything, or even anything that wasn't in her already.

Gathering her things from her locker, she slung her usual tote bag over her shoulder and headed towards the main entrance passing doctors and nurses she knew, and passing by a new resident she had begun to feel affectionate towards. He relied on her to work with him, not for him, and the two almost seemed inseparable at the hospital that people had begun to assume they were a couple. It wasn't the sort of affection that you would consider there to be romance involved, but much more of that friendly affection, maybe a sibling-like affection.

"Well good evening Doctor Yakushi." she said with a smile. "Just getting off or just starting?"

"Sakura, please don't call me that. It makes me feel old." he laughed nervously and scratched the side of his cheek.

"Well why not? You're technically older than I am and you _are_ a doctor."

"I'm only six years older than you are." he sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose. "Just getting off?"

"I asked you first." she pouted.

The young man in question laughed and patted her head playfully. "I just got off but I'm waiting for -"

"You're man crush?" Sakura joked and gave him a sly look.

"It is _not_ a man crush!" he whined. "Orochimaru is brilliant and well respected. He has the knowledge and godly medical skills that can bring the dead back to life. Its not a crush, its respect and I'm really learning a lot from him."

"Still a man crush." Sakura simply put it, with a sly smile still plaguing her face. She patted his shoulder briefly before taking it off and giggled a bit.

"Its not a crush Sakura." he groaned and tried to pinch her cheeks to little avail. She quickly escaped his reach and kept her distance with hands raised in a mock kung fu stance which he seemed to give up on immediately, changing his expression from playful to concerned. "Sakura, maybe you should stay home for a while or take things easy.

"Hmm? Where did that come from?" she asked curiously.

"Sakura." he said with warning. "You look awful. You're beginning to look a lot like my cancer patient."

"Way to make a girl feel good about herself Kabuto." she grumbled.

"You know what I mean. When was the last time you slept decently? Your skin is slowly becoming translucent and you have some really bad dark circles. You're hair is losing its sheen and it felt dry against my fingers. Are you eating properly?"

"Yes mom I'm fine. Don't go diagnosing people when they haven't asked for it." she chided.

Kabuto didn't look convinced and eyed her doubtfully. He had opened his mouth to say something but Sakura held up a hand to stop him and spoke in his place.

"Don't forget, you're on my team tomorrow in Pediatrics. Work on your skills tonight or you're going to make the children cry again." she laughed and skipped away as if the conversation hadn't happened.

.

.

It had been roughly around fifteen minutes and Sakura heard an extra set of footsteps picking up nearby. The well lit street was quiet and empty like it usually was and Sakura couldn't help the foreboding feeling in her stomach with each step she took, hearing the sound of shuffling and dragging across the pavement in pace with her very own steps. Turning her head back, never losing pace, she saw the familiar dark hooded figure in the distance dart into a another street and slowly peer out of the corner. This was too scary for Sakura to take. It was as if this person was playing a sick game of cat and mouse and wanted to see how much fear they could instill into her before striking. Sakura turned away and quickened her pace, trying to save as much energy as she could. She was already burnt out but she couldn't stop here. She couldn't let herself fall victim to a possible rape or murder incident.

As she continued looked forward, she could hear the continuous patting and dragging of feet following her with a pace picking up to close the distance, and when ever she looked back, the figure always seemed to hide or dart into a different direction. This wasn't funny in the least. Her heart pounded against her chest, her lungs felt like they could collapse into one another, and tears began to form in her eyes. The stranger was getting closer and she had no way to get away from him.

'_Make it to the nearest convenience store. Please, legs, don't give out on me. Someone will be there, maybe.' _she prayed.

She could hear the heavy footsteps and the heavy pants in between her and the stranger that seemed to echo throughout the quiet street. Sakura, made a dash down a side street she never used but knew it was the fastest way to skip out and get to the convenience store. It was risky, too risky. She didn't know if the stalker had allies or not but she was willing to take the risk. Jumping over a few boxes and dodging some trashcans, Sakura had begun to desperately send Kakashi text messages in hopes that maybe he would respond, but found herself crying when he didn't as soon as she had hoped.

She tripped over a few cracks along the pavement and fell flat on her face, scraping her forehead, her cheek, her arms and elbows, and her hand along the way. She wasn't going to let her phone break or become damaged from the impact, seeing as though it was her only way of getting a hold of someone. She stood up with wobbling legs and used her free hand to guide her upwards, wincing at the sharp pain that pulled within her wrist, and continued to run again upon hearing the quickened footsteps of someone nearby come closer.

Sakura quickly tried to call Kakashi instead. Ring after ring, she always came to his voice mail and hung up to try again, even upon safely reaching the convenience store. She panicked. She didn't know who else to call. It was as if her mind ran blank when she could have called the police, Ino, or even Genma, but she didn't. She felt like Kakashi was the only person she could call and continued to desperately dial his number over and over.

Sakura paced the isles back and forth, waiting and tip-toe-ing every so often over the tops of the shelves and out of the large panel glass windows and door that offered a good view of a suspicious person - wearing a thick, black hoodie with baggy jeans- who seemed to have been enjoying what looked like their fourth, no, fifth cigarette, from what Sakura could see and count. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't see his face let alone accuse him of following her. What if the man outside smoking wasn't the person she suspected of stalking her? There were other patrons who were there at that store and had been leaving as she entered. What if he was an innocent bystander who just decided to have a smoke? But then her stomach churned and she felt her tears forming again when she wondered if he was the person that seemed to enjoy following her.

Just as Sakura desperately looked to her phone, wondering if she should call Kakashi again, it rang, scaring her out of her wits and causing her to drop it onto the floor. She didn't even think twice as she dropped herself onto all fours and grabbed her phone desperately, avoiding the odd look from the cashier as he restocked a few items at the other end of the shelf. Her prayers had finally been answered when she saw the name and couldn't help the tears that flooded her eyes and trickled down her cheeks.

Shakily, she pressed the 'answer' button and gasped into the phone when she heard his voice.

"_Hello, I'm returning calls from this number and I would like to make something clear. Please do not-"_

"Ka…Kakashi…" she cried and covered her mouth from sobbing into the phone.

"_Who is this?"_

"I…I don't know what to do. Please…save me…" she cried.

"… _Sakura…?"_

* * *

Why hadn't he realized sooner that it was Sakura calling him? Was it because of the misleading text messages he received? Kakashi wracked his brain as he ran out of his apartment and down the hall, calling out to someone who was about to close the elevator. There was no way he could have realized something like that.

Reading text messages like _'I need your help with something ^_^' _or _'Hey, sorry to bother you but are you busy right now : )?' _or even _'Are you doing anything tonight?'_, there was no way he was going to know, let alone notice it was Sakura. He didn't even have her phone number, well at least not until now.

The sound of her distraught voice, her muffled sobs, and her cry for help had him worried for her safety. She never disclosed what happened over the phone which only made things more concerning as he agreed to pick her up at the convenient store she felt stranded at.

Having been able to exit the elevator and find his car within the underground parking, Kakashi drove out of there like a bat flew out of hell, replaying the conversation he had with Sakura in his head.

.

.

.

"_Hello, I'm returning calls from this number and I would just like to make something clear. Please do not-" he started, but stopped when he heard the sound of a woman gasp and cry on the other end of the phone. _

"_Ka…Kakashi" she cried and sounded as if she were trying to muffle out her sobs. _

"_Who is this?"_

"_I…I don't know what to do… Please…save me…." she cried. _

_Kakashi didn't know who was on the phone but some sort of feeling told him he knew if he thought hard enough. He couldn't shift through the names of women he knew fast enough and found it harder to figure it out due to the frantic sobbing and despair within her voice. And then it hit him. He gave his number away recently to someone he never expected would be his student. _

"…_Sakura…?" he asked cautiously. _

"_Kakashi, I'm sorry. I didn't have anyone else to call and I know I slapped your face and called you horrible names but…I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" she cried. "Please come and get me." _

_The pure fear and panic in her voice left him with an uneasy feeling in his stomach as he listened to her, continuing to force her sobs away. _

"_Sakura, calm down. What happened and where are you?"_

"_I'm at…the convenience store…on West Leaf Street." she said through her hics._

_Kakashi pursed his lips as he kept her on the phone._

"_Sakura, I want you to stay there, understand? Can you do that for me?"_

_Sakura hummed slightly and Kakashi could hear the sniffles and shuffling on her end. _

"_I'll be there soon so just wait for me."_

"_O-Okay…"_

_._

_._

Pulling up to the convenience store, Kakashi locked his doors and trekked his way inside to meet with Sakura, but he didn't see her. He searched the isles painstakingly and anxiety had begun to surge within his chest. Slowly, he started to walk around another section of isles in hopes of running into her and still didn't see her. How was she not there within the little convenience store? Did she leave to go somewhere else? Maybe try to catch him from the sidewalk? No, she wouldn't have done that. He knew her well enough to know she would wait for him. He tried to think. Maybe she wasn't listening well enough in the state of panic she was in? Kakashi bit the inside of his cheek, and made his way to the cashier who stood before the register, nodding his head as if he were about to fall asleep until Kakashi cleared his throat.

"Excuse me, was a young woman with pink hair just here?" he asked politely.

"Huh?" the young man said, shaking his head and turning to meet Kakashi's piercing glare. It didn't matter how polite he sounded, the look in the silver haired man's lone stare was enough to wake him up and give him an ominous feeling. "I-I'm sorry. Wha-What?" the young man stammered.

"A young woman. About this high," Kakashi gestured with his hand, "pink hair, jade colored eyes. Did she leave?"

"Oh! Um, no she's still here… I think. She didn't give the bathroom key back but I guess she's still there. You her boyfriend or something?" he said, nodding his head into the direction of the back door.

"That's none of your concern now, is it?" he said curtly and headed towards the back where he saw the universal image of a man/woman figure against a pale gray door.

He knocked lightly but no one answered.

"Sakura?" he asked apprehensively.

* * *

**Author's Note: God I hate being on hiatus status. Its not because I want to either! University life sucks when you have pricks for professors and ridiculous amounts of homework. I hope you enjoy this newest chapter of Summer Days and I can't wait to update my other fanfictions, "HOME" kakashixsakura pairing, and "Seasons" NamixSanji pairing.  
**

**Thanks for reading and I support all reviews :)  
**

**-Rusala.  
**


	4. Your Person

**Thursday 11:55 pm**

Kakashi knocked lightly against the door.

"Sakura?" he asked apprehensively.

No one answered but he heard some light sniffling from inside the restroom.

"Sakura, you can come out now. I'm here." he said, trying to sound reassuring.

She still didn't say anything. Instead, he heard her shuffling around inside and unlocked the door, slowly giving it push to reveal her distressed appearance. Her hair was messy, her eyes were red and puffy - filled with tears that threatened to fall from seeing him, and she had scrapes along her face, her arms and hand, and her scrubs looked a little disheveled with some smearing of dirt. He didn't know what to say. This was the first time he had seen her in such a state and wondered what he should do. He was stuck. What would be the right thing to do right now? If this were a few months ago then you could bet that he would have been her knight in shining armor and taken her in his arms or something but now that he forcibly called it quits on them, what was he supposed to do? What was he doing there? Being a teacher right? Teachers didn't offer hugs or embraces of reassurance.

Kakashi sighed quietly but heavily. Being a teacher wasn't the right option right now was it? She looked terrified and she didn't leave the bathroom, she just continued to stand behind the threshold, trembling.

"Sakura…" he exhaled.

She didn't meet his gaze. Not only was she nervous and ashamed to, but she was scared and in complete doubt that she was lucid enough to really see what was before her. Was he really there? Was he really standing in front of her? Was he really talking to her like he cared? Her mind raced. She couldn't comprehend just what was happening and wondered if maybe she was actually unconscious is the dark street she tripped in.

The bottom hem of her shirt was rolled into her hands and clenched close together, and she did her best not tap her foot against the floor to keep her mind off of crying. Her ears rang, her eyes felt tired, her body was sore, and her head felt as if it were splitting in two.

"Sakura, I think you should come out now." he said gently.

The thought of leaving the restroom scared Sakura and she looked to Kakashi as if the idea was ludicrous. There were no windows and only one entrance. Sakura could see who was coming and where they were coming from so she didn't want to leave her spot. Walking out of the bathroom meant being in the open view of her stalker. Walking out of the bathroom also meant not being able to see outside from the bright inside of the convenience store. She looked to Kakashi desperately, trying to tell him with her eyes that she couldn't leave and Kakashi could see that.

Looking around himself first, Kakashi then opened the door a little further and peered inside, seeing her tote bag and cell phone by the sink along with the bathroom key attached to what looked like a pcp pipe. Did convenience stores still do that? Who was going to run away with a bathroom key from a convenience store anyways?

Kakashi looked to Sakura once more and entered the restroom, gabbing onto her tote bag and looped his arm right through it, placed her cell phone into the pocket of his jeans, and grabbed the key in tow. He then walked to Sakura who didn't turn to him, but instead stayed in the same spot, staring out of the bathroom's threshold into no particular direction.

"Sakura, we're leaving."

Kakashi placed a hand on her shoulder and watched as she flinched under his touch. She looked to him in fear before opening up a bit to the feel of his warm, protective hand against her. He nudged her a little to move forward but she didn't budge. Fear was too instilled into her that she couldn't leave the safety of that restroom.

"Sakura, I'm going to take you home. You can't stay here all night." he said calmly.

Seeing as Sakura wasn't going to move without an actual push, Kakashi let his hand travel to the other side of her shoulder, brought himself as close to her as possible, and pulled her passed the threshold. At first, she resisted and kept her feet in place, but the brunt of Kakashi's body against hers helped push her out to walk in tune with him. Slowly, but surely, they made their way to the cashier, returned the key, and made their way to his car with no interruptions, or altercations. Once safely securing Sakura into her seat, he locked her in and quickly ran to his side, entering and starting the car in a swift motion.

"Sakura, where do you live?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she turned to look outside of the window with panic plaguing her face. It was obvious she was looking outside for someone or something and Kakashi watched as her hands made their way around her bag - he placed onto her lap earlier - tightly.

"Sakura…?"

She didn't look his way. She continued to search through his window with frantic eyes and Kakashi could see her breathing pick up. It looked as if she were about to go into a panic mode so Kakashi felt as if he needed to catch her attention away from outside.

"Sakura." he said, as he carefully placed a hand onto her shoulder.

She flinched towards his touch and finally shifted her worried gaze towards his.

"Where do you live?" he said sternly. "I'm taking you home."

Sakura relaxed into her seat a little and continued to look into Kakashi's eye before finally responding.

"North Fire Towers…on Fifth Avenue…" she said quietly.

Kakashi raised a curious brow but said nothing as he shifted his car into gear and drove out of the parking lot and into the direction she gave him. The car ride was silent, and Kakashi wasn't sure of what his next move should have been. Deciding that small talk was better, he cleared his throat and caught the attention of Sakura who fidgeted in her seat.

"Do you want to tell me what happened?" he asked calmly.

Sakura didn't answer him. As if that wasn't new. There were countless questions running around in his head and nothing was coming up. He took in her appearance again and thought hard about what could have happened. Did someone try to mug her? Was she running from a crime scene? Did someone try to rape her? That last thought had Kakashi's blood boil for a second before it finally dawned on him what had happened.

"_How do you handle stalking?"_

"_No not me. My friend."_

"_So there you have it. Scary isn't it?"_

"_Genma she's too timid to carry around a pocket knife let alone old enough to buy one and from what she's told me, she can't change her work hours since it works well with her school schedule. As for changing her route home, its usually late at night when she heads home and the only actual safe route is the one she's being followed on."_

Why didn't Kakashi think of that sooner? It was such a painfully obvious lie she told today but he didn't think too much of it. Her story had so much detail and she could have been telling the truth for all he knew. There were things he had no knowledge of and Kakashi couldn't tell which was the truth and which wasn't with her anymore. She lied about being twenty two for god's sake so of course he wasn't going to believe let alone try to doubt her story either.

Sighing heavily to himself, Kakashi cleared his throat again before speaking.

"Sakura, why did you lie about being stalked?"

Still no answer. Sakura wouldn't speak to him and one obvious note was that she was frightened. It didn't take a genius to figure that out. But what Kakashi didn't know was that upon being frightened, Sakura was also embarrassed and ashamed she had called him. She was scared and desperate and nothing she did to him seemed to matter, she just needed him. And he came. But the rush of being scared slowly disappeared in his presence and now everything she knew he could have taken offense to came flooding into her head. He didn't bring it up, she knew he was being nice about it, but it didn't mean he probably didn't care about the insult let alone the slap to his face.

"I'm sorry." she said softly

"Sakura, what happened before I came?"

"I'm…sorry…" she said again, and let a few tears roll down her cheek.

The car Kakashi was driving came to a slow, gradual stop upon a street light and Kakashi looked to Sakura. He watched as she did her best trying not to sob or bawl or let more tears trickle down her cheeks as her fingers rubbed against the tote bag on her lap.

"Sakura why are you sorry?" he gently said, letting patience and kindness hang on the top and lower edges of his words.

It was low, but there was a certain ring to it. The tone reminded Sakura a lot of what she heard over the summer and felt as if she could cry more but pushed herself not to. She already looked this bad in front of him and the past couple weeks of school didn't help her either. It was painful for her to be near him, hearing and seeing him treat her like he did before school started. It was a bittersweet torture and Sakura had to wonder if she was secretly a masochist.

"I just…I'm sorry…for everything…" she apologized.

It didn't take Kakashi much longer to understand where Sakura was coming from. She didn't need to look at him. He could just tell by looking at the side of her facial features that she was literally apologizing for everything. The late night call, the slap to the face, the insults, the argument and shouting, and everything else that seemed to have gone sour between them. And so was he, but he had too much pride to apologize and he knew it. Besides, he couldn't say anything that could cheer her up and didn't. Even if he told her he was sorry it wouldn't solve the problem they had right now and it wouldn't solve the problem they've been dealing with for a while. So his better judgment told him to remain quiet.

After a good ten minutes of riding in Kakashi's car, Sakura immediately recognized just how close to home she was. She felt the immense sense of relief wash over her but that wasn't the only thing she was feeling. She felt like death at this point. The fact that Sakura was almost home gave her body the mental and physical reassurance that she was very close to safety. The adrenaline rush she had seemed to have turned off, leaving her scraped skin to burn and sting, leaving her body parts to throb and silently scream at her, and allowing her splitting head to finally make the great divide and completely split into two pieces down to the base of her neck. Though as much as she felt she would be safe, Sakura still had her doubts. Over the few days she knew she was being followed, Sakura never knew if she had been followed as far as her home or not, so as soon as she makes it into her apartment, she would be sure to do a thorough check, and no longer ride the elevator with other tenants of her building.

Kakashi turned a corner and there it was, North Fire Towers. The tall, wide apartment complex with over twenty two floors stood illuminated from the bottom up and Sakura always appreciated the brightness of her building. It served as a special haven for her long days of work or school. Especially in the evenings. She was thankful for the brightly illuminated halls that held a chest tall wall along the hall to let the night sky and air in. It was one flaw she didn't like about the hallway though. On rainy days, she was forced to open her umbrella as she exited the elevator and fight through the rain that poured into the hall.

Unbuckling her seat belt and ready to dart out of the door as Kakashi drove near the main lobby entrance, Sakura began her fast, thank you speech.

"Ok, so just dump me off at the main entrance and thanks a lot for this evening I won't bother you again for something like this so-"

It was such a complete personality change from being frightened and scared to nervous and shifty and Kakashi eyed her questionably. As Sakura unlocked the door to leave, Kakashi drove right past the entrance and followed the signs that lead to the tenants' parking garage.

"Kakashi just drop me off. You can't park down here."

"I'm seeing you to your door."

"But your car-"

"Will be fine." he finished for her.

"Its fine." she huffed. "I can get to my apartment by myself."

"Sakura, you couldn't leave that bathroom by yourself. What makes you think I'll let you walk to your apartment alone?"

Kakashi found a vacant parking space on one of the empty looking floors of the garage and grabbed the tote bag from her lap as he exited and locked his car.

"Lock the door." he commanded.

Sakura scowled a bit before locking his door and proceeded to lead Kakashi towards the underground elevators.

"Its fine. I can make it the rest of the way so just give me my bag." she insisted.

Kakashi said nothing and continued to follow her, never letting her bag go.

"Kakashi!" she whined. "I'm serious."

"So am I. You're not thinking straight right now."

As they made it to the elevator, Sakura grunted and pressed the 'up' button, which remarkably, opened the elevator doors right there and then.

"What do you mean I'm not thinking straight? I'm fine." she hissed and entered the elevator with Kakashi following in tune with her pace.

"I say you're not fine. Sakura, you were locked in a bathroom. I had to push you out. You almost had a panic attack in my car. And now you're suddenly fine?"

Sakura turned to look at Kakashi with an argumentative face and he too did the same.

"I am fine! So just-"

"Just let me walk you to your door and see that you made it inside safely." he hushed. "I don't know the full story because you won't tell me but those scrapes say a lot. So stop complaining."

Sakura's cheeks heated a little at the hopeful thought that maybe he still cared for her. If he didn't, wouldn't he have called the police for her instead? He wouldn't have come to pick her up and personally see her home. He wouldn't have insisted to take her all the way to her front door. She averted her gaze to the floor and huffed in annoyance. He was unreadable and as much as she wanted to hope for his concern and affection, he was most likely going to continue to reject her anyways. She stepped to the side and leaned against the corner wall, tapping a finger against her hip.

"Floor." Kakashi ordered.

Sakura looked to him skeptically and stared into that lone, onyx eye of his.

"Eleventh." she muttered.

Kakashi raised another curious brow to her but said nothing.

"What?" she snipped, and watched as Kakashi pushed the button.

"Nothing."

"You don't believe that I'm telling you the right number? Sorry for ruining your trust in me." she spat.

Kakashi didn't say anything and placed his hands within the pockets of his jacket, feeling the little bobs and sways of the elevator as it made its way to the eleventh floor. He did glance in her direction from time to time only to catch her pouting in the corner she stood against.

As the elevator finally reached the floor, Sakura sprung out of the elevator, ready to ditch Kakashi before he could see which apartment belonged to her and reached for the keys within her tote bag. But there was a problem. She didn't have her keys. She didn't even have her tote bag. Kakashi did. And she could see him smiling beneath that mask of his. Sakura knew he was laughing at her. It was obvious as to why she darted out, but now, she was forced to wait as Kakashi slowly made his way towards Sakura, still wearing a smile and an eye crinkle on his face.

Sakura soon regretted that little dash because her already split head had been begun to burn and pound as if they were iron drums in a battlefield. Her legs were ready to give out on her and she just felt so tired. She groaned quietly, praying for Kakashi to hurry up before she felt the need to collapse right there and then. Upon finally reaching her, Sakura frowned at his smile and reached for her bag.

"Ok, we're here. Eleven eighteen. Wipe that smile off your face. Its not funny."

Kakashi said nothing as he handed her the bag and raised another curious brow to her.

"What?!" she hissed.

"Nothing. Just curious as to why you ran away when I clearly had your things." he teased.

Sakura could hear the hint of playfulness hanging at the edge of his voice and slapped his arm as best as she could.

"Sakura, you're so violent. I didn't know you were violent."

"There's a lot of things you don't know." she grumbled and unlocked her door. "There, its open. Leave. I'm perfectly capable of walking in on my own."

"If you say so." he said, and walked a few feet away from the door and looked back.

Sakura was still standing with the door open but she had yet to enter.

"You're supposed to go inside now." he said, jokingly.

"Not until I know you're a good distance away."

Kakashi raised his hands in mock defeat and chose to walk backwards, waiting for her to walk into her apartment. As he retreated a good twenty feet from her door, Sakura collapsed halfway through the threshold. Her legs laid into the hallway, and her bag and her keys were strewn onto the floor. Her arms were weak as they tried to push herself back up but caved in beneath her.

Kakashi acted on instinct, and ran to her door. He turned her over and checked for any bleeding in case she could have hit her head and exhaled in relief.

"Sakura." he called, and gently tapped his hand onto her cheek. The feel of her hot, clammy skin beneath his hand told him everything else he needed to know and tried to tap her cheek again. "Sakura can you hear me?"

Sakura hummed lightly in response and furrowed her brows to Kakashi.

"You're too loud." she complained weakly.

Kakashi looked to her incredulously before opening his mouth to speak.

"If you still have the energy to complain then that's a good sign." he uttered, and carefully pulled her onto her feet.

He allowed her bob in place for a moment before realizing she couldn't stand on her own. Her body made a limp dive to the floor again but Kakashi grabbed her quick enough to keep her from hugging the floor once more. With a tight arm around her shoulders, he held her close to him, as his free hand traced along the wall for a light switch and eventually found it, illuminating one of the emptiest apartments he had ever seen.

"…Um…Sakura?" he started.

"Don't look at it." she mumbled desperately and tried to push him away with weak, shaky arms. Kakashi didn't budge as he held her upright and glanced around the room.

"…There's nothing to look at." he stated and made a mental note of the very limited items within the large space of her apartment. A very tired looking coffee table, an exhausted looking brown couch with a few throw pillows and a blanket, a plant in the corner of the room he assumed was plastic, a small rug beneath the coffee table, and two simple shelves you could buy at any hardware store that were filled with books and looked as if they were ready to fall apart.

Deciding to put that aside, he closed the door to her apartment and guided her to the exhausted looking couch, carefully sitting her into the center. She didn't meet is odd gaze. She was too embarrassed and too tired to do so.

"Where is your thermometer?" he asked.

* * *

**Friday 6:09 am**

Sakura didn't know how long she slept, but it was one of the best rests she had ever gotten. Despite still feeling the pounding against her head, she felt completely relaxed. The light from her balcony had shone into her living room and Sakura shielded her eyes with the blanket that happened to be covering her. She felt so comfortable and warm where she laid on her couch, and nuzzled her back into it more. The feeling of soft fabric against her skin felt nice and the warmth was very comforting. The soft thumping of her calm, steady heart beat, thumping along with another person's served to be soothing and almost hypnotic, until something felt amiss.

There was another heart beat she could clearly hear within the quite of her living room. There was a fresh scent of detergent she didn't recognize along with a light, musk aftershave scent. Lastly, Sakura noticed the hand that rested close to her waist and brushed against her arm. Her eyes sparked themselves wide open and her body instantly rose from its spot on the couch, elbowing something soft and hard at the same time. The sound of a manly 'oof' leaving someone's lips had her hair raise against her skin and she hesitantly looked to the person she was sleeping against.

"Good morning to you too." he muttered.

Sakura's jaw dropped as she watched Kakashi stretch in his spot, seeing his jacket and shirt give a slight raise, revealing a very fit, lower abdomen for a brief moment.

"W-What…W-What….W-What.." she continued to stammer. The word 'what' seemed to be the only word she could have processed right there and then.

"I'm innocent." he said, sitting up from where he laid.

"W-What…W-What…?" she stammered again, shaking her head with an incredulous look at on her face.

"You fell asleep on me last night." he informed, and rose from the couch slowly.

Sakura was stunned. Her mind couldn't process anything and desperately wracked at the inside of her brain, trying to remember what happened last night. The light pounding in her head increased like a hang over and threatened to split open again and Sakura felt faint. She was thankful for the couch being so near that her knees gave out beneath her and earned her a thump against her couch.

"Hey, are you ok?" Kakashi perked as he bent down to check her face.

"W-What…W-What…"

"Sakura, speak in a proper sentence."

Blinking, Sakura panned her eyes from his face, to his chest, to his face, to her feet and everywhere in between because she didn't know what to look at or what to think. In the end, however, her eyes rested on his face and she thought about the odd comfort she experienced as she woke up and felt her cheeks flush a bit.

"What are you doing here?" she finally said.

"What do you remember and we'll work from there."

Sakura opened her moth to speak and quickly found herself closing it. What did she remember? She remembered as far as Kakashi laughing at her sad attempt run from him and everything after that went fuzzy.

"…I remember you pissing me off…and walking away…and that's it…"

"Seriously?" he asked blankly.

Sakura nodded her head frantically and winced at the brain exploding motion. Kakashi heaved a heavy, aggravated sigh and made sure Sakura was looking at him.

"You are sick. You collapsed last night. I brought you to the couch and gave you the meds from your kitchen. Then you fell asleep."

Sakura tried her best to take in the information that was provided to her and felt herself frown.

"But how did we…together…on the couch…" she muttered shyly. Her cheeks grew even more red and Sakura felt her heart bang against her chest.

"I sat with you, and gave you some meds. I offered to stay and you yelled at me. You threatened to 'kick my ass'-" he said, trying not to laugh, "- and just when I was going to leave you clung to me and fell asleep."

Sakura's eyes widened with shock and her entire face lit up with embarrassment. How much more was she going to embarrass herself before the school year ended? She literally had ten more months of having to work with this guy and groaned aloud at the future torment she would have to endure.

"What time is it?" she asked grimly, hoping to take her mind off of Kakashi.

Kakashi pulled her phone from his pocket and pressed a few buttons before responding.

"Six-fifteen." he said, and placed her phone into the palm of her hands.

"…I need to sign those reports and return them to the secretary." she panicked to herself. "I haven't proof read the bake sale pitch and there's still the astronomy inquiry to report to and not to mention there's the allegations against the chess club and I finished my homework but I still need to do the next three chapters to keep myself afloat and then there's the trash, the laundry, the grocery shopping -"

"Breathe Sakura." Kakashi grunted, as he placed his hands onto her shoulders and gave her a slight shake. "Just breathe."

Kakashi watched her patiently, as she searched his face with frantic eyes until they became slow and calm, and continued to watch as turned into a glare.

"What are you doing here?" she snipped.

"What?"

"Get out. We have school. I need to finish my reports and then I need to get ready and-"

"You're not going to school today." he stated, and stood from his spot next to her.

"No one asked for your opinion."

"Its not an opinion, its an order."

"Who are you to tell me I can't go to school?"

"I'm your teacher. Anything school related gives me every right to say that. And before you think about going anyways, I have an assault report sitting in my desk, ready to be turned in. Stay home today." He said in an authoritative tone.

"What the-! No! I'm going!"

"Enjoy a week long suspension then." he shrugged.

Sakura pursed her lips and glared into that damn eye crinkle he seemed to like flashing her way. She didn't care that he was, in his own way, showing his concern due to their status, she cared that she had to stay home. She had too many things to do and staying home was nothing but a frustrating idea. She could go to school and just skip his class, but then there was all hard work of having to sneak around him and Sakura wasn't sure if he was serious about that assault report or not.

"And what the heck am I supposed to do here all day?!" she argued.

"Sleep. Eat. You're a nurse right? You should know what sick people do. Copy them." he said nonchalantly and walked out of her apartment.

Sakura felt so irritated and upset, all because of that infuriating man. He practically blackmailed her to stay home and she took to it too easily. No! She wasn't going to allow that. Where did her pride and moxie go? Never, would she let someone tell her not to go to school and she wasn't about to let Kakashi tell her to do to it now. Not even twenty seconds after Kakashi left, Sakura ran to her door and burst out from the threshold, ready to chase him down and give him a piece of her mind. She didn't care for the pounding in her head but she was determined to lash out at him. But the moment she eyed the hallway, it was the moment she saw no one there. Twenty seconds was not enough time to get to the elevator and leave. Twenty seconds was enough time to get halfway there depending on whether or not you were running - something she knew very well from experience. She eyed the hallway very carefully before returning to her apartment and locking her door in tow.

"What am I supposed to do here?" she groaned.

* * *

**Friday 3:00 pm**

Sakura had taken Kakashi's suggestion and imitated a sick person and slept most of the day. It was the only thing she could do to relax her sore body and ease her pounding head. If she tried to stay awake and do anything that required thinking, it only resulted in a splitting head and a flustered Sakura. Last night, as embarrassing as it was, was something Sakura didn't regret. She felt that she made the right choice calling Kakashi rather than Ino or the police. Ino would have freaked and called an ambulance if she were there when Sakura passed out or she would have taken her to the police station to make a report. Calling the police would have been the same thing, write a report and pass out, have them contact the hospital. The hospital and the police were the last things Sakura needed. Not while she was still seventeen.

During one of her non-groggy spells, she took the time to shower, change her clothes, take care of her scrapes, and wrap her sprained wrist. Though it was a little challenging for her slightly disabled self, she did it, and did it well.

She was now awake for the fourth time today, though she wondered how it was suspiciously possible for her to sleep without her noisy neighbor interrupting, and had thought about putting some food into her system. Skipping breakfast was understandable. She was still flustered from what had transpired that morning and couldn't stop thinking about the way she felt against Kakashi. It felt too comfortable and natural to lay against him and all the excitement in her heart and her face left her with an even more pounding head. She skipped lunch because she desperately needed a shower and wanted to do some work but her headache and dizziness told her to do something else. By now, she was starving. She burnt off too much energy last night and today as well as her body fought off what ever bug it was that she had. Slowly, and painfully, she lifted herself from the couch, and made her way to the kitchen, only to stop as she heard a persistent knocking against her door. Who the hell continuously knocked on a door like that? She grumpily sauntered towards her door and opened it wide with a fierce glare on her face and saw the man she least expected to come back.

"Yo." he said, and held a bag that smelled too good to be true.

"Leave." she grunted, and slammed the door.

"Are you serious? After I went through the trouble of getting you food?" he called through her door.

"No one asked you to do anything! Go away!" she shouted.

"But its hot! I bet you haven't eaten anything yet!" he called again.

Sakura pouted at how right Kakashi was and her stomach growled only to prove his statement true.

"I don't want any! Leave! You're a pest!" she grunted.

"I see. Well, if that's the case then I'll just turn in that assault report to-"

Sakura quickly opened the door and grabbed Kakashi by the collar of his shirt, and pulled him inside with brunt force.

"You're an ass! Why are you blackmailing me?!" she hissed.

"Now now, you must be hungry. I brought some fried rice, beef and broccoli stir-fry, fruits, water, and porridge. I didn't know what your stomach was ready for so I bought whatever."

Kakashi waltzed further into her apartment and made his way towards her couch when Sakura grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

"What are you doing?!" she hissed.

"It's the only place to sit and eat." he said nonchalantly.

"That's not what I mean Kakashi. Go home."

"But you're sick."

"And I can take care of myself."

"That's not what happened last night."

"And it won't happen again. Now leave."

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders and turned to meet her frustrated glare.

"As your teacher I can't do that."

Sakura frowned at his remark and felt anger flare up within her bones. Teacher? No. He didn't have any position or authority to take care of her let alone intrude into her home. Though, technically he didn't intrude, she pulled him in, but that was beside the point.

"Don't you dare use the teacher card on me Kakashi. You have no right to. Not after the way you've treated me the past couple of weeks." she snipped.

"It doesn't matter. Right now you're an underage student living alone, sick, and has a stalker."

Kakashi hit the nail on the head and Sakura's stomach dropped. She was facing so many broken rules right now and Kakashi could simply report her.

"I brought some food for you because you're sick. I also brought it as a peace offering and as a ticket to talk about your situation."

Sakura continued to glare at Kakashi's very adult-like stature and glanced to the food every so often before grabbing the bag with embarrassment and stomped her way to the couch. She was beyond mad at this point but what could she do? She was hungry, she was tired, a desperate part of her hoped Kakashi would talk about their status, and mostly because she was worried about Kakashi reporting her to the school and to the police. As she had begun to lay the food out onto the coffee table she looked to Kakashi as if she were ready to kill him and spoke through gritted teeth.

"Hurry up and sit or I'm kicking your ass out of here."

Kakashi smiled and made his way to the couch she rudely offered and sat against the corner. Sakura could see that smile of his from the corner of her eye and it only pissed her off even more as she took the styrofoam bowl of porridge and claimed it for herself.

"Talk." she ordered.

"There's plenty of time to talk. Eat first and then -"

"You only have the time I'm eating to talk about it. Once I'm done, I'm kicking you out." she growled.

"Ok then. Lets start with your living situation. Are you paying for this place?"

"I don't feel like answering that." she huffed, and placed a spoon full of porridge into her mouth.

"Assault report." he reminded.

Sakura was ready to stab Kakashi with her spoon and clearly shot daggers his way with jade colored eyes.

"Yeah I am. The name of the apartment is under a relative. I just pay the rent. Next."

"You're living unsupervised. That's against the law and its against the rules at school. You know that right?"

"Yes I know that. I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't know."

"Don't you mean, you wouldn't be doing it if you knew?"

"No Kakashi." she sighed and placed her food onto the coffee table. She then turned to him and made herself comfortable on her couch. "I would still be doing this even though I know. I know the risks but I do it anyways. I can't leave this city."

"Weren't you supposed to have been in another city?"

Sakura bit her lower lip and flashed him a odd look. Why would he bring up something she told him over the summer? It was true but she didn't expect him to care enough to remember.

"I was…but I can't leave this city. I've lived here too long and I've done too much to leave now. I was working, and I was living with my uncle, but he had a job transfer and there was another school and another hospital with my name on it."

"But why would you go through the trouble of staying?" he asked sincerely.

"I can't live with him and his family anymore. Their kids are getting older and they're family is expanding. I'm only getting in the way and I just can't leave this place."

"So they put this apartment under their name for you?"

"Yes. I just have to pay the rent."

"So what exactly are you doing at the hospital to pay your rent? You're seventeen. If my memory serves me well, shouldn't you be eighteen to work as a nurse?"

"Depends on the city and hospital protocol. I got into a nursing assistant program at fifteen and worked my way up to being a fully licensed nurse. Satisfied?"

"No. Sakura you're a minor. You can't keep living this way."

"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do? As far as I'm concerned, I'm pretty damn established for my age. I have a decent paycheck and my own place. My grades are perfect and I have the highest score in school _and_ I'm the student council president. Teachers and student rely on me. I don't kill and I don't steal. This is my thing Kakashi."

Sakura didn't care how arrogant she was coming off right now. She was upset and needed to defend herself from possibly getting into trouble or being transferred to the next city over.

"This is too much for you." he said, shaking his head.

"I'll decide what is too much for me. You don't need to worry about that. You just need to keep quiet about it." she defended.

"What if something happens? You are being stalked. If something happened and I knew, wouldn't that make me suspicious?"

"Who said anyone would talk to you about my problems?"

"I'm your teacher Sakura. Investigations always start with the family, then the teachers, and then the friends. If something happened to you, what am I supposed to do? The better question is, what am I supposed to say?"

"You say nothing and do nothing. You ignore me like you usually do and continue on not caring about me." she huffed.

"Why didn't you at least tell me?" he muttered.

"We're not a couple and we're not friends. I don't have to tell you anything. You wanted it that way too." she said, with hurt hanging off of her words.

Sakura's words stung. It was true. For a second, Kakashi had forgotten he told her everything was over the moment he found out she was his student. Things were a mess right now, especially in handing this conversation. He couldn't do it as a friend, or loved one, and he was doing a pretty bad job handling it like a teacher. Questioning and arguing with a teen as if she were your girlfriend was not the right way to approach it. It was, sloppy and it was messy.

"Why are you even here? I can cook for myself and I can survive by myself. I don't need anyone. I'm mature enough to tough it out alone."

"That's not what happened last night."

"Enough! Stop bringing up last night!"

"I'm not going to stop bringing up. Something could have happened to you! You need to think!" he lectured with a raised voice. "There were so many things you could have done to prevent it! You could have made more reports to the police. You could have told the school. You have told me or called your relatives. But instead you chose to handle it yourself. That was in no way mature!"

Why was Kakashi losing his cool? He had no right to do so. No place. As a teacher he wasn't even allowed to yell at her this way either. He was crossing so many lines of what was ethically and socially accepted by just talking to her in her own apartment.

"Those were not options I could have chosen! It was risky enough consulting the police and it was such a shame they couldn't do a thing for me. I'm not about put my school, my job, and my social life on the line by telling others!"

"That is the most immature thing I have ever heard you say since I've met you! Not telling someone could have resulted in you losing all of that! Along with your virtue or you life!"

"Stop yelling at me like I'm someone special to you! I'm not. Stop showing that you care for me when you want to call it quits. Not even a teacher should be showing this sort of concern for his student. Its irresponsible of you and it hurts so damn much. I called you and reached out to you because I was scared and vulnerable. I took that desperate risk because I still have feelings for you. Showing your nice side to me and showing your concern hurts a lot and its too damn misleading! I'm sorry for all the crap I've put you through but you've put me through a lot of crap as well. We're even as of right now."

Kakashi's new found silence agreed with Sakura. As the silence filled the room, Kakashi used that time to try and think of something to counter her statement with but couldn't. He was at a complete loss and Sakura was spot on with her words. He had no right to treat her as anyone he was close to. He wasn't her friend. He most certainly wasn't her boyfriend or family member. And though legally he was her teacher, he had begun to agree with her that he was not her teacher. This had to be the most complicated relationship he has ever had with a person ever. Could he consider them acquaintances? No that wasn't right. Acquaintances didn't give rides or take care of each other when they were sick and they didn't give lectures either so describing their relationship as of now was difficult. It was complicated enough to make you want to pull at the ends of your hair until it all came ripping out of your scalp, leaving it hot and tender.

"Kakashi…what are we doing…?" she asked quietly.

"What do you mean?" he asked tiredly.

"Never mind…just forget it…long story short, don't tell anyone…and I truly am sorry for everything…"

The distance in her voice seemed too far away and it felt so foreign to Kakashi. It really felt as if she were pulling father and farther away from him and somehow he couldn't find it in him to accept it. Kakashi shouldn't have cared. Or maybe he should have. Maybe not as a guy she almost hooked up with, and maybe not as her friend or her teacher either, but maybe just as her person. He needed something to repair what ever damages he caused as of now. Clearing his throat he looked to Sakura and changed his tone of speaking.

"Sakura…what were with those odd texts?" he asked curiously.

Sakura flashed him an odd look at the sudden change in topic.

"What?"

"The texts you sent. If you were desperate for my help what were with the smiley faces? They were completely misleading. I thought I was looking at midnight excursions from women."

Sakura's odd look turned into a frown and a blush and she looked away from Kakashi.

"I still can't use my phone correctly. Those were pre-set texts that came with the phone."

"That's…um…I'm sorry but that's stupid. Doesn't it take longer to select those?"

"Its none of your business how I text people." she mumbled.

"But its faster to text. Going into the insert section of the cell phone and then scrolling through all of your options is just tedious."

"And like I said, its none of your business how I choose to text people." she huffed; clearly growing irritated.

Kakashi kept his silence for a good three minutes before pressing her on the phone issue again.

"I'm just saying its faster to-"

"I can't text ok?! My fingers are too big for the touch screen! Drop it already!" she hissed.

Kakashi looked at Sakura with surprise and, although this wasn't the moment to laugh at her, he couldn't help it. Her fingers were big? Then what did that make his? His hands were large and his fingers were slim but compared to hers he knew she had very small, dainty, delicate hands. How could her fingers be too big?

"Its not funny!" she whined.

"You're just an old lady with a smart phone now aren't you?" he laughed.

"Shut up Kakashi!" she growled.

It was the wrong time to be laughing but Kakashi couldn't help it. Seeing her cheeks grow red with embarrassment only made him want to laugh more if it wasn't for her punching his arm.

"Ouch! So violent. I certainly didn't know you were violent." he joked, repeating his lines from last night.

"There's a lot of things you don't know." she huffed.

There was that infamous line again too.

"…you're right."

And with that, the rest of Sakura's meal remained in silence. It was well understood that nothing could have been said to lighten the mood any further and nothing else could have been said to fix the damage that had been done as of now. At least, Sakura wasn't growing farther from him like she was earlier. Oddly enough, something seemed to have brought her a little closer to him and maybe that was a sign that there could be some type of bridge between them; at least something to meet each other halfway instead of the avoidance and animosity they seemed to toss at one another. Although, he was doing most of the tossing and Sakura was taking the force from it.

And then something came to mind.

"So tell me about them." he said.

"What?"

"Tell me about the things I don't know."

"You're stupid."

"I can't be your teacher and I can't be your friend. I most certainly can't be your boyfriend. Being an acquaintance doesn't fit the bill either. So, tell me about them, as your person."

"My what?"

"Your person. I'll be your person and you'll be mine. We weren't exactly a couple and we weren't exactly friends either. You told me things, that I'm still trying to figure out if they're the truth or not, and I told you things too. I can't return your feelings now and it'll probably hurt on your end but eventually you'll realize I'm not the one for you. Its better than fighting and its better than taking things on alone. You need someone and the fact that you called me says a lot."

Sakura thought about his words carefully. They could have been a couple but now they can't. The could have been friends but now they can't either. Staying just as her teacher wasn't the right feeling either. So for whatever relationship they had, being called each others 'person' seemed like the better choice. She looked to him with those jade eyes he always found intriguing and gave him a nod and a gentle smile.

"Ok then. Starting today, you're my person."

* * *

**Author's note: I'm sooooooo sorry this is late! School is a biotch! I don't have time to relax or breathe! Its a 4 day weekend for me because of Thanks Giving so i took the opportunity to write this. This is now how I wanted to write. I wanted to update every week or two but I swear, if school was a real person, I probably would have punched it in the face. Sorry, I'm not an angry person but school is just so, ugh!**

**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. School will be over Dec 3 so I'm taking all of december to update as much as I can before the new year. I hope I can because I have other fanfics that need updates too. Sorry to put you all through this and thank you again for reading my fanfics.  
**

**Happy Belated Thanksgiving!  
**

**-Rusala  
**


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